My good buddy Kevin Chan, who blogs on hamletshero.blogspot.com will be writing a special article, or rather a series of articles, to be released on his blog starting this Friday.

The picture says it all. WHAT DO WOMEN REALLY WANT?? Haha. Check it out!!!

Yesterday, I was in my Kancil stuck in a mini jam on the LDP flyover crossing the Federal Highway near Subang. The car was stationary due to the jam and then all of a sudden the car shook! I mean, the car just shook left and right as if someone was pushing it back and forth from the side. The fact is, no one was pushing it!

It really was the natural frequency of the vibration of the flyover bridge that caused the car to wobble. The LDP flyover vibrates!!  Scary. Never ever buy small car if you have the money. Please.

So many many things in my mind lately. Cluttered and too many things running around. Let’s catch some of them and place them in words.

1) Weirdly, NUS says that my application is still in “Application Processing” mode even though almost all of my friends already know of their admission decision into NUS. Maybe they are rejecting me because I told them that I am retracting the NUS Double Degree application (Business & Engin. combined). NTU gave me a spot in the NTU-Georgia Tech program even though I told them that I am retracting my application after they asked me to submit more supporting documents. I got lazy, told them I am withdrawing NTU application, and got accepted. The irony.

The thing is, going to Berkeley ain’t cheap. Half a million ringgit of cash splashed, and I might not even get a high paying job upon graduation, especially if I fail to secure a job in the US and have to come back home to Malaysia. The cost does not justify potential earnings.  I am entertaining the thought of just going to Singapore and get that dumb piece of paper called a degree. On the other hand, job aside, Berkeley might expose one to lots of new stuff and give a wholely different experience that might come useful, in some way, maybe in starting a tech venture. So yeah. A gamble indeed.

2) YEAH this pisses me off a lot. Drivers who fail to signal when switching lanes or cutting into your lane. I might be driving a small car, but please signal la when cutting in. At least when you signal, I know and will most of the time let you through as a reward for your courtesy to signal. DON’T BARGE IN LIKE THAT. (Volvo, BMW tai sai ar) Or I’ll HONK =)

Malaysian drivers.

OH yeah there was this joke my colleague related to me. So one day a listener called Mix FM and told the DJ, “Penang drivers are really terrible la.” Another called in and said (obviously a Penang lang) “Where got, in KL the drivers are also like that what. Bad driving.”

Killer statement by yet another caller, “You know why KL got bad drivers or not. They all come from Penang and drive in KL.”

3) Hmmm in my job, I have been going to a lot of places, including the abodes of wealthier people to do some maintainance. I don’t know, but it feels weird. Big houses, big and nice cars, luxuries that I see, makes me wonder whether this is really what I want to own. If I had a lot of cash, would I self-gratify, indulge in all these nothings and be arrogant and think that I’ve got it all? It’s very easy to do that if you are rich. So dangerous to be trapped like that. Live like a king and all, think that one is so big and awesome. Yeah when I drive in my Kancil I will go “ooooo, wahhh, niceeee” at the Toyotas and Hondas and BMWs etc etc., thinking of when I can have enough cash to get a Toyota etc., but is this really the objective of it all? Materials and all. Many of us would like that.  But if a man were really to be judged by the abundance of his possessions, then there can be only one winner in this world, i.e. Warren Buffet at the current moment. Judging by this, the rest might as well be losers. Of course, this cannot be the case.

Being a Christian complicates matters. On one hand, it is OK to be rich, but be generous givers. On the other hand, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Note: Hard, but not impossible. More discussion on Bible verses about wealth and riches in a later post.) My say is that it is perfectly fine to be wealthy, though many Christians today advocate self-denial and living “poorly” since they say that the Bible says things like “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” But the world screams money and wealth, and if Christiany means that one has to beg in the streets, who would want to become a Christian? The truth is, Jesus’s disciples were very wealthy people. I’ll elaborate in another post.

Even in church, sometimes people give testimonies announcing that God has blessed them financially (yes that’s good and praise the Lord for that) but I don’t really agree with the part that they go on saying that they have recently bought a Mercedes [fill in latest model here] (this is the part that feels wrong to me) as proof that they have been financially blessed. Big deal ah saying you got a Mercedes? A car is a car. What is a Mercedes for if not to flaunt and show off? Sigh. I don’t know. It’s not that I am against people with big cars, but then again who am I to judge anyway? I am not God. But all I want to say in this paragraph is that when someone drives a big car, says he drives a big car etc., my perception of that person, justified or not, points toward arrogance and self-importance. This is the perception I get, to be brutally frank.

This is my stand on riches and wealth: 1) Being rich is not wrong. God needs money for His works too.  2) Tithes and offerings are obligatory and mandatory. God commands us to render to God the things that are God’s. 3) Be a generous giver. One must give in order to receive! But give not to receive but to serve others and shower love on others, especially the needy. 4) Don’t love money, and don’t let money be your God. Now who can say, “I wish to be poor”? The fact is that we all wish that we can have financial freedom, be rich, and not be in lack financially. But how will you live your life once you have all these things? I think how you live your life when you are rich it is more important than having the riches itself. After all, this fact remains: we enter the world with nothing, and we depart with nothing.

The question I challenge all readers to ponder: How will you live your life when you are wealthy? Never forget that it is God who gave the power to get wealth. Give more to those in need? Flaunt it all to fulfill one’s material desires? It’s your choice.

4) Makes me think, I’ve applied to 8 scholarships, only one replied so far, i.e. Shell. Never intended to go into Oil and Gas, so ended up not going for the interview, plus the bond would be unbearable for person like me. Guess I shouldn’t complain about not getting scholarship since I am so choosy. But you get the point. Easier to win a lottery today than to get a scholarship, no matter how good you THINK you are.

[see what months of no intense studying and exams can do to one’s brain. my recent blog posts are proof that the gap period before starting intensive further studies makes me think a lot, some might say too much. but it’s good. sets the priorities right.]

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Some things cannot be rushed.

Infatuation or not infatuation? Perhaps I’ll give a few years to tell the difference. But things will be very different then. Oh, how hard it is to embrace the notion of keeping my eyes on God and serving Him wholeheartedly, everything for Him, doing God’s will at the current moment in my life, instead of dwelling in uncertain hopes and desires that plagues the mind. But today was something lifted. This burden. Maybe now I can give God my 100% attention. As long as I don’t entertain those thoughts. My naive mind.

I was quite astounded when I read this in the Sunday Star yesterday.

At first, Ning Baizura’s manager Vernon Kedit Jolly spotted Penang’s Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng standing in front of them (Ning and Jolly) in a queue. When Vernon told Ning Baizura about this, she would not believe it.

Ning: Takkan CM jalan sorang sorang. If he’s the CM, where’s the bodyguards and the officers and the rombongan and kaum kerabat?

Me (Vernon): Tak percaya? Watch and learn.

So Vernon approached him, introduced himself and asked to take a picture. YAB Lim obliged.

Source: mrmanager.blogspot.com

Later on, when Ning and Vernon were settled in First Class, they turned their heads around, expecting to see YAB Lim nearby. But he was nowhere to be found. Vernon went to do a bit of investigating:

I popped my head round the curtain that veils First Class and Economy Class and guess who I saw sitting in the front row seat of Economy quietly reading the newspapers?

No prizes for right guesses. See more pictures here.

I should have expected this from a man who would rather live in his father’s house than to spend RM300,000 in tax-payers money to fix up the official dwelling of Penang’s CM. Such a person deserves my respect rather than national or corporate leaders who flaunt their status driving big cars and living like a duke. Down to earth people such as Lim Guan Eng deserve my most respect. Truly leading by example.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has officially begun to blog!

He currently only has a single post in his blog at chedet.com touching the issue of the appointment of judges. It is dated today at 1.27 am. In the preface, he says, “Thank you for visiting my Weblog. This site is dedicated to publishing my writings as and when I am able to pen my thoughts and opinion.”

Let’s give Tun Dr Mahathir a warm welcome to the world of blogging!!! If you didn’t already know, his daughter Marina Mahathir also blogs at RantingsbyMM.

Tun is proof that it is never too old to start embracing the wonders of technology!

Just a quick sharing on an interesting forwarded slide show which I received from my aunt in Singapore about Warren Buffet:

There was a one hour interview on CNBC with Warren Buffet, the second richest man who has donated $31 billion to charity. The following are some very interesting aspects of his life:

• He bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that he started too late!
• He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers.
• He still lives in the same small 3-bedroom house in mid-town Omaha , that he bought after he got married 50 years ago. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence.
• He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security people around him.
• He never travels by private jet, although he owns the world’s largest private jet company.
• His company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies. He writes only one letter each year to the CEOs of these companies, giving them goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis.
• He has given his CEO’s only two rules. Rule number 1: Do not lose any of your share holder’s money. Rule number 2: Do not forget rule number 1.
• He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is to make himself some pop corn and watch television.
• Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his desk. (!!!!!!!)
• Bill Gates, the world’s richest man met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates met him, the meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffet.
• His advice to young people: “Stay away from credit cards (bank loans) and invest in yourself and Remember:
  o Money doesn’t create man but it is the man who created money.
  o Live your life as simple as you are.
  o Don’t do what others say, just listen them, but do what you feel good.
  o Don’t go on brand name; just wear those things in which you feel comfortable.
  o Don’t waste your money on unnecessary things; just spend on them who really in need rather.
  o After all it’s your life then why give chance to others to rule our life.”

“The HAPPIEST people DO NOT necessarily have the BEST of all.
They simply APPRECIATE what they find on their way”

Well I am sure we all know many many many people, including ourselves, who live super or over-luxurious lives but are not even a thousandth fraction as rich as Warren Buffet. Perhaps we can all learn a thing or two from arguably the world’s most financially responsible man himself. Being able to buy and own anything in the world that he sees, but living as normal as normal can be. If I were God, I would even want to give him loads of money because I know that he will not squander it. He would take it and invest for greater gains! (Remember the Parable of the Talent?)

Are you the type who can be as financially responsible as Warren Buffet? I think I will have to do lots of catching up myself. I’m already 19 and haven’t bought a single property or share in my life. =S

No, this is not an allegation. I have data to justify what I have stated above. A very interesting observation indeed.

So, it turns out that I have worked for iZZi Wireless Broadband for 3 months already (iZZi’s service is only available in the Klang Valley for now). Until this day, I have sold broadband packages to 37 customers (each package requiring an upfront payment of more than RM 1000, so I can deduce that this group of people belongs to the middle class or higher). But that is not the point.

The point is that out of my 37 customers, 27 customers use 012, 4 customers use 017, 2 customers use 016, 1 customer uses 013 and another 3 customers use 019.

The breakdown (out of 37 customers):
31 Maxis subscribers (84%)
4 Celcom subscribers (11%)
2 DiGi subscribers (5%)

Interesting huh? Despite the rampant and aggresive promotions by DiGi and Celcom, middle and upper classers are not that price sensitive and do not see the need to switch from their beloved Maxis. And of course, Maxis is also offering very attractive rates and packages. But of course, this goes to show that different subscribers target different niche groups, and this finding does not represent the proportion of subscribers that each of the telcos have in Malaysia. (my findings are limited to the Klang Valley and are targeted at more affluent Malaysian users)

Nice piece of info yeah?

So Streamyx is actually quite reliable here in Bandar Utama (BU7). I upgraded to 1 Mbps but got 1.3 Mbps!

Well but I know of many users who are not so lucky like me here, and having worked in a Streamyx rival company, iZZi, I hear many grouches everyday about Streamyx. Guess I happen to live in a good area in terms of Streamyx’s service. XD