2006 - A new chapter

Well , its 2006 . New year , new perspective . New chapter and new direction in this journey called life . My new year celebration was pretty simple & for you drinkers out there , you would've enjoyed it more than me . There were A LOT of binge sessions , while I just chilled there observing their unusual antics . When you're the type who doesn't drink , smoke weed / ciggies , you can't help but feel very isolated in such a colourful environment . They kept pressuring me to drink and I managed to avoid every single persuasive words coming from them . One even said that I should'nt be like this because of my religious restrictions . Well my answer was pretty easy , even if it wasn't for religious restrictions , I still won't drink . It's more like a personal choice , I chose not to drink and smoke , despite 80% of my friends & close friends do it . Another guy said that drinking is a way of socialising & making new friends . To a certain extent , he may be right . But to me , there are other ways to network besides getting yourself drunk & why you have to risk yourself with alcohol just to 'fit' in .

Here's a scenario :
Meet up , get drunk , vomit , wake up the next morning , vomit and then hangover . There goes the networking . If you're drunk enough , you tend to get really vocal & you tend to say things that are quite offensive to some people . This one guy almost said something to degrade my beliefs , if he was sober , he would've got some bruises from me and won't realise it the next morning , but because hes drunk , nevermind .

I 'm still 'accepted' in their ranks despite me not drinking . Why? because you stand firm to what you believe is right FOR YOU ... so you'll earn some respect for that . I think conversations are the best way to network . So to those who are under this peer pressure , think about it . You don't have to do it if you don't feel its right FOR YOU .

I hope 2006 would be good for me in all aspects . Let's hope past experiences will mature me further . I hope I at least get one of my resolutions fulfilled : Being Punctual!! .. yup .. I'm always late for everything ...lets change that .

2006 , here we go .....

Liverpool On A Roll

I was so glad to see my team goin through a solid run of form at the moment , both in the Premiership & Champions League . Hope the boys can carry this on with the FA Cup as well . Our strikers have been scoring , midfield's superb & the defence has been the highlight of the season so far . I find it hard to believe that this was the same defence that played in last season . Rafa has definitely improved them , 8 clean sheets in the premiership is an amazing feat . Too bad I wasn't able to watch the derby match yesterday morning , had to wake up and pitch !

Glad Im' already on annual leave til the 3rd of Jan 2006 . Got a few invites to celebrate new year this year . I dunno , I was never into this whole new year celebration thing anyway . I don't see why people would flock KL , in the jam , all sweaty n stuff , just to watch bloody fireworks !! To me , theyre just an overly-exaggerated version of the mercuns I used to play during puasa time when I was small . After watching fireworks , then what ? everyone starts getting drunk , disturbing the peace ..vomitting here and there .. girls get disturbed .. gang fights .. bloody jams . You reach home feeling tired smelly , just to watch bloody fireworks . Dumbasses .

I'll try my best to fully maximise the time I have to chill and release all the tension goin on .

What's goin on here ?

About a week ago I managed to catch this documentary show on TV3 . The story was on this poor man and his family , living in the outskirts of Johor , his name's Hadi . He served the country once during the Communist days . By right he should've been a war hero . Yet it shows how easy it is to forget such loyalty nowadays. Hadi's family's standard of living makes you wonder how is it possible to survive in such a depraved condition . The man's 60 now , gets RM190 a month to spend for his living expenses . However, the money won't be enough these days & it does not help matters when he's living with 3 mentally ill family members- his wife, daughter & granddaughter . they don't even have electricity & pipe water . All they have to substitute those are candles & water from the well .

What really struck me is the moment when they could only watch raindrops falling down on them through the holes on their zinc roofs . At that moment , I asked myself , 'Where are all the rich people at ?' . I mean we have all these rich folks , some are ministers & businessmen . This may sound harsh , please note that what's going to come out here applies to only a select quarter of the society . Why do some rich dudes would spend thousands of ringgit on women & luxury cars , yet unable to help just a couple of hundreds for poor old Hadi's family ? Its amazing how easily we forget what's important & what's not when you're in a position to have almost everything in life , or at least a proper living condition . When rich women could only think of getting the latest fashion items & jewelery , or the latest technology in cosmetic surgery , Hadi's family could only think of where their next meal is coming from .

Moral of the story is , whenever you think your problem is BIG , remember that there are much BIGGER problems faced by other people . Imagine this people , the thousands of ringgit spent on ONE woman for the sake of sex maybe , we instead spend not even half of it on people like Hadi's family . Can you imagine how many lives we could've helped improve ? To me , that's where the true satisfaction is . Until we conquer our lust & desires , always try to picture Hadi's family scenario .I'm not saying we should'nt spend on women here guys , but spend reasonably la . Not necessarily women , other things as well .

That was just an example , now don't think I'm a fanatical sexist or anything , I'm not . To married guys , stick to your wives man , don't cheat & waste money on other women than your wife , seriously bad karma . Guys , if you think the girl you're with is with you for the money , leave them . When you let yourselves be 'governed' by material things in life , that's when you get 'lost' in terms of priorities . Be in control . In my current job , I try to give as much as I can to folks similar to Mr. Hadi . But I feel like I wanna do more , but theres this sense of 'helplessness' of not being able to help them fully . Because I know there are people who can help yet are not doing anything about it & it frustrates me .

Come on , we're in 2005 people , supposedly we should'nt have people living in such conditions anymore . We should've been moving forward together . Heres hoping for better days soon . Peace .

Post Published On Friendster , dated September 16th 2005
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Lesson In Life 01

A group of working adults got together to visit their University lecturer. The Lecturer was happy to see them. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.
The Lecturer just smiled and went to the kitchen to get an assortment of cups - some porcelain, some in plastic, some in glass, some plain looking and some looked rather expensive and exquisite. The Lecturer offered his former students the cups to get drinks for themselves.

When all the students had a cup in hand with water, the Lecturer spoke: "If you noticed, all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal that you only want the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all you wanted was water, not the cup, but we unconsciously went for the better cups."

"Just like in life, if Life is Water, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold/maintain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change." "If we only concentrate on the cup, we won't have time to enjoy/taste the water in it."

Post Published On Friendster , dated 22nd August 2005
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Recently I managed to get hold of a DVD entitled "Hitler : The Rise of Evil" . I enjoyed watching it , it's pretty long , but very good . What's fascinating is that it clearly shows that being evil is not something you're born with , but it takes a journey to become one . I also believe that we are all born good , but along the way , certain chain of events are ones that direct us to the wrong direction or otherwise . In the movie , Adolf Hitler was not a bad person when he was in his younger days . Who would've thought a small town boy from Austria , who aspires to be a painter in Germany would end up being one of the most notorious figures in history ? The way he turns to the 'dark side' was pretty tragic .

Without giving out anything , let's just say , he had no other choice and he's was of course , pissed . I would really recommend this movie coz' it's got some pretty strong messages in it . What I've learned is that , unlike Adolf Hitler , in life there will always be choices to make or break you .

You can choose to be good or bad . Every choice you make will open up another path for you , whether the path is good or bad , it's clearly up to you . I never judge people who are into bad things like gangsterism and all , coz its all about the choices you make , and the risk that comes along with it . I 'try' not to get pissed when people screw me over , coz chances are , they might have experienced the same too .

Anyway , Robert Carlyle plays Hitler in the movie and he did a marvellous job portraying the character . I give it 4 Stars . Whoever's reading this , go check it out . P/S : Theres a nice quote taken from this movie - " The Only Thing Necessary For The Triumph of Evil is For Good Men To Do Nothing " Edmund Burke