Those who has everything but is nothing or those who has nothing but is everything

I have a very close pet brother who is an ex-student if an International school in Kuala Lumpur. Though him, I got to meet and mingle with a group of 9 ‘rich’ brats, those who were born with silver and some even gold spoon their mouth. I was very closely knitted to them for a few months.. At the same time, through my Rotary/Rotaract network, I got to know a group of young people that has just recently joined the working world.

On the Surface.
Rich Brats-My first impression over them is like ‘these people are really cool’ This is because in that group of 9, all were driving cars with purchase value over RM1million, fully equipped with the latest gadgets, dressed in luxury brands, dinning in the finest restaurants.

Working group- Most of them were from average families and is most of the time are struggling to juggle with their financial commitment. Every Ringgit spent was carefully thought over and they have to save up for months for a ‘simple’ holiday.

After hanging out with these 2 groups over time, I notice the following…

Rich brats -

At their mid-twenties, they are still surviving on the pocket money from their parents. Though they do work (In the parent’s company), I don’t see that they really do much.

They have no particular goals in mind. Asked them about their 5, 10 year goal? They starred at me as if I’m speaking French.

Ignorant. Talked to them about the social problems, and they will reply ‘who are we to worry for them’

Values. Don’t think they have any, they play girls out like Barbie dolls and show very little respect for other people outside the group.

Working Group :-

They are working and supporting themselves independently. They do not need their parents to feed them at this age.

They have clear direction on where they are heading, and are aware of the necessary hard work and effort that they have to shove in order to attain their goals.

They are very inspired to contribute to the society in the way/method they are capable of.

They do not take things for granted and appreciates their friends who stood by them.

That short period of 6 months mingling with the two groups taught me many things, and the quote below is one of my favourite and that I have been constantly reminding myself .

“It does not matter where a person is currently at, what matters is where they are heading to”

Little thoughts for my friends

Not too long ago, as I was browsing through my ex-classmate’s blog. In that, I came across her most recent post on her love for her mother. The family has been going through a rough period of losing someone dear. I find her words quite touching and thus decided (impulsively) that I need to get these words to her mother. Have to actually call up a few friends to get the house contact number, and when I finally got it, I made the call. Conveyed the intended message across to her mother (stammering with errr…arrrr.. and all those comical voices you could think of). Her mother was quite calm and cool actually, and I was the one freaking out. At the end of the conversation, I requested the mother to keep this away from her daughter as I was afraid that it would affect the friendship between us.

5 minutes after the call, I was feeling really at fault towards my friend and then again decided to confide in her on my actions. Thanked God that she did not mind me being too busybody.

Message: Thanks Dear and I will always treasure the friendship between us.

I had a good chat with some of my buddies one night, and was deeply touched again with the way the child feels towards the parent, only this time was the gratitude, respect, admiration, love of a son towards his dad. He is inspired to be able to provide like his dad and is actually using his dad as the benchmark for the man he aspired to be. This young man very much deserves my respect on his role as the son, although he craps a lot most of the time.

Message: You should be telling your dad exactly what you told us. If you can tell your friends on how much you admire this person, why can’t you let him know? I’m sure he will be truly pleased if he knows everything that he has done is well appreciated by his love ones. Let him know while you still have the chance. Most of the time, we have regrets only for things that we should have but not done.

The one who complains and the one who is being complained.

I experienced a session sometime ago where I had one of my friends (“A”) confiding to me on how A felt on another friend (“B”). Seems to me that A and B could not get along well in each other. As usual and like always, I will be the mediator between them (Got weary after having to do this for sometime). Whole time of listening to only complains was irksome, I do not know about A but I suffered quite a bit during the conversation.

I personally do not agree with the conduct of B, but couldn’t help defending B as all I really want is things to mellow down between them and also A was attacking B callously. My defence ignited the fire in A and he/she asked me why am I being so protective over B. Weeks ago, I had a similar session with B, he/she was too complaining about A just that it wasn’t this harsh, and I had the same remarks from B stating that I’m very protective over A. Goosh… can’t you guys leave me out of the battle, I have more important things in life to fret on.

Little do we realise that people normally think less of the one who complains than the one who is being complained. Nobody is made perfect, and all we can do is to accept our friends as they are. We should never set standards/guidelines on how others should behave and live their life.

Acceptance (devoid of judgement) is most of the time the best gift we can bestow our friends with and most of the time the only thing we ever call for in our friends. Most important of all, it’s something that can be given at anytime to anyone in anywhere.

We just have to keep our judgemental mind aside.

Before I Fall in Love by CoCo Lee

A very nice song....Though a little sad

My heart says we've got something real
Can I trust the way I feel'
Cause my heart's been fooled before
Am I just seeing what I want to see
Or is it true, could you really be

Someone to have and hold
With all my heart and soul
I need to know, before I fall in love
Someone who'll stay around
Through all my ups and downs
Please tell me now, before I fall in love

I'm at the point of on return
So afraid of getting burned
But I want to take a chance
Please, give me a reason to believe
Say, that you're the one,
that you'll always be

Someone to have and hold
With all my heart and soul
I need to know, before I fall in love
Someone who'll stay around
Through all my ups and downs
Please tell me now, before I fall in love

It's been so hard for me to give my heart away
But I would give my everything ,
Just to hear you say

Someone to have and hold
With all my heart and soul
I need to know, before I fall in love
Someone who'll stay around
Through all my ups and downs
Please tell me now, before I fall in love


Dance like no one is watching,
Work like you don't need the money and
Love like you have never been hurt.

How Stanford University got started

"You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who can do nothing for them or to them."

A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband,dressed in a homespun threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked timidly without an appointment into the president of Harvard's outer office. The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country hicks had no business at Harvard and probably didn't even deserve to be in Cambridge.
She frowned. "We want to see the president," the man said softly. "He'll be busy all day," the secretary snapped. "We'll wait," the lady replied. For hours, the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away.
They didn't. And the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president, even though it was a chore she always regretted to do. "Maybe if they just see you for a few minutes, they'll leave," she told him.
And he sighed in exasperation and nodded. Someone of his importance obviously didn't have the time to spend with them, but he detested gingham dresses and homespun suits cluttering up his outer office. The president, stern-faced with dignity, strutted toward the couple. The lady told him, "We had a son that attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. And my husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus."
The president wasn't touched, he was shocked. "Madam," he said gruffly. "We can't put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery". "Oh, no," the lady explained quickly. "We don't want to erect a statue.
We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard." The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, then exclaimed, "A building! Do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical plant at Harvard." For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. He could get rid of them now. And the lady turned to her husband and said quietly, "Is that all it costs to start a University? Why don't we just start our own?" Her husband nodded. The president's face wilted in confusion and bewilderment. And Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they established the University that bears their name, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.

Appreciation

Appreciate what you have...How our lives are, is how WE choose to see it...


One day . . . a wealthy family man took his son on a trip to the country, so he could have his son see how poor country people live.
They stayed one day and one night in the home of a very humble farmer. At the end of the trip, and when they were back home, the father asked his son, "What did you think of the trip?"
The son replied, "Very nice dad."
Then the father asked his son, "Did you notice how poor they were?"
The son replied, "Yes."
The father continued asking, "What did you learn?"
The son responded, "I learned that we have one dog in our house, and they have four.
Also, we have a fountain in our garden, but they have a stream that has no end.
And we have imported lamps in our garden . . . where they have the stars!
And our garden goes to the edge of our property. But they have the entire horizon as their back yard!"

At the end of the son's reply the father was speechless.

His son then said, "Thank you dad for showing me how poor we really are."

Isn't it true that all depends on the lens you use to see life?

One can ask himself what would happen if we give thanks for what we have instead of always asking for more.

Learn to appreciate what you have. Wealth is all in one's point of view, it may not be measured in monetary terms...

I personally choose to measure the wealth I have based on Love.

Indeed, I am very WEALTHY

My principals in life

Its not difficult at all to keep ourselves happy. Other than my 3D principals for success, and to remind myself very often on how lucky I am, I also keep the following in mind alwiz...

1. WHEN THINGS GO BAD, always remember: It could be worse.
2. NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP. Keep working on your speech and your life.
3. NEVER LOSE YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR. Laugh at yourself, laugh with others.
4. STEM DEPRESSION by thinking of, reaching out to and helping others.
5. DO UNTO OTHERS as you would have them do unto you.
6. PRAY, not for God to cure you but to help you help yourself.

Life not measured by the number of breathes but rather by the number of events that took our breath. Everyday is spectacular, if and only if we allow it to be......

Beware Divers

Being a diver myself, I pray very hard that my passion will not end this way...

Fire authorities in California found a corpse in a burned out section of forest while assessing the damage done by a forest fire. The deceased male was dressed in a full wet suit, complete with scuba tanks on his back, flippers, and face mask. A post-mortem revealed that the person died not from burns, but from massive internal injuries. Dental records provided a positive identification.

Investigators set about to determine how a fully clad diver ended up in the middle of a forest fire. It was revealed that on the day of the fire, the person went for a diving trip off the coast some 20 miles from the forest. The fire-fighters, seeking to control the fire as quickly as possible, called in a fleet of helicopters with very large dip buckets. Water was dipped from the ocean and then flown to the forest fire and emptied. You guessed it. One minute our diver was making like Flipper in the Pacific, the next he was doing the breast stroke in a fire dip bucket 300 feet in the air.

Apparently he extinguished exactly 5'10" of the fire. Some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed -

This article was taken from the California Examiner, March 20, 1998

A tribute to all Women

Interuption... Before I proceed on with my tributes, There is this message that I need to convey out to those people around me that I love very much. My family members and dear friends...

I am very blessed being made a lady born in this era. In fact, this is the transition period between the conventional thinking era and the new era. God undeniably has made women stronger in many ways, for many reasons. One of them would be of course to bear the pain of labour.

A tribute to all Women...

A little boy once asked "God, why do women cry so easily?"

GOD answered......

"When I made woman,

I decided she had to be special.

I made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world,

yet, made her arms gentle enough to give comfort...

I gave her the inner strength to endure childbirth

and the rejection that many times will come even from her own children.

I gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going

and take care of her family and friends,

even when everyone else gives up,

through sickness and fatigue without complaining....

I gave her the sensitivity to love her children under any and all circumstances. Even when her child has hurt her badly....

She has the very special power to make a child's boo-boo feel better

and to quell a teenager's anxieties and fears....

I gave her strength to care for her husband,

despite faults and I fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart....

I gave her wisdom to know that a good husband never hurts his wife,

but sometimes tests her strengths and her resolve to stand beside him unfalteringly....

For all of this hard work, I also gave her a tear to shed.

It is hers to use whenever needed and ! it is her only weakness....

When you see her cry, tell her how much you love her,

and all she does for everyone,

and even though she may still cry,

you will have made her heart feel good.

Each day is a mountain that must be climbed;

with courage each step gets easier.

The single most important Person in MY life

My first TRIBUTE...to my BELOVED MUM....

In actual fact, there word mum explains everything. The sacrifices she has made for the family, the love she had for her husband (yes, my Dad), the care she showered on her children, the effort she made on the home...the patience she holds while everything else is in total mess. An amazing women, the closest person to heaven I have known.

MOTHER is the sweetest and
Most delicate of all.
She knows more of paradise
Than angels can recall.She's not only beautiful
But passionately young, Playful as a kid, yet wise
As one who has lived long.Her love is like the rush of life,
A bubbling, laughing spring
That runs through all like liquid light
And makes the mountains sing.And makes the meadows turn to flower
And trees to choicest fruit.
She is at once the field and bower
In which our hearts take root.She is at once the sea and shore,
Our freedom and our past.
With her we launch our daring ships
Yet keep the things that last

I promise I will cook more for you and spend more time with you...WE will travel together more (I will try to get you to DIVE with me also..hehe). Mum, I know whatever I can do for you is nothing compared to the unconditonal love you have showered me for the past years. Not matter how much uncertainties the future holds, the one thing I can be assured of is your Love and this assurance will keep me going on in life....

I LOVE YOU, MUMMY!

After much procrastination, I finally came to the fact that I need to make use of the Blog space I have reserved months ago. Was I too busy to start earlier? well, not at all. In fact, I started with some posts weeks ago. And yes, they are still in the drafts, for the simple fact that I have not learned how to add pictures in the Blog.

This Blog serves as my dedication platform to those people around me that I really treasured. I will never be able to express myself to my family members and friends, not because I don’t but rather because they never take me seriously.

For my first post, I would like to draw your attention to a brief description of myself (just in case if there is anyone out there who has the slightest interest in getting to know me better…Hehehe). Most of these pointers were provided by people closest to me, so please leave your comments. I appreciate honest and sincere comments indeed.

So lets begin, I was born in 1982, and that makes me 24 this year. My life has been a breeze this far. I have always found myself very lucky and life has been treating me good. That is what I have been telling my friends, most (if not all) reply by saying that its because I’m a contented person, and is always happy (this doesn’t apply to my working life, which is the only time I am demanding towards myself and people working with me).

Generally, I operate in 2 modes…the Serious Mode (Strictly during working) and Playful mode (operates 24 hours when the Serious mode is non-operative).

The 2 modes are on the either extreme…for those who have worked with me before and are now friends, you will be nodding in agreement.

Nobody messes with me when I’m working, even my best friend cum partner would avoid getting in my way…Right Nadya? Love you dear…There is no need to elaborate further on Serious Mode, Believe me...you wouldn’t like the Yvonne operating in this mode.

Let’s turn to my playful mode, which is operative most of the time. During Diving (my utmost passion), Rock Climbing, Eating, Driving, Walking, Sitting, Swimming, Talking, Hiking, Golfing, Dancing, Badmintoning, watching, and even Sleeping…and everything else other than working. During this time, I will never take anything seriously, everything is fun. My objectives? TO have FUN…that’s all. An extreme example of Hedonism.
I remember having a heated up discussion with one of my close buddy, he asked that why izzit that I never take climbing seriously? Why am I climbing without objectives? Why am I so different from what an ex-colleague (Which is also my God-sis) described of me when working? Of course le, I’m not working ma. So many questions asked, but no answers provided…If you may ask why? Because My Playful Mode is turned on…heheee…

That’s all about me…you will also get to know me more as I introduce those people around me from time to time. In a nut shell, I would consider myself very lucky, I have a big group of supportive and loving people around me and is always surrounded with happy and caring people. My days are always filled with things to laugh about and to play with, my sis sometimes even said that I'll smile while sleeping (this is creepy wei).

My favourite quote

“Learn as if you were to live forever, Live as if you were to die tomorrow”