The Institution

I had a conversation with my Mom recently and we talked about marriage. Wait , hold on there .. don't get too excited yet , I'm not getting married anytime soon .. but I will definitely ;)

The more I hear it from people on the 'other' side of the fence and through reading what other moms and dads blog about their marriage , the more I feel how much of a big deal it is. It is easy to say 'Let's get married' and expect things to smooth out. All I have to say is, I think it takes a huge amount of effort from both sides to make it work.

How one should behave , the tolerance of each other's habits , personal sacrifices and trust are all important things to consider. I think you gotta be really sure and know what you want out of your relationship before you step into marriage. Yes , some say love conquers all , while some would say love is not enough to make you last through marriage. I think its true you know, let's be realistic , monetary stability is important to live a comfortable life. If you're both in love but broke, its not gonna be a comfortable one. I'm surprised and respect that my parents are still together for 39years in their marriage , another 1 more year and it would mark a 40year milestone. I mean there was constant quarrels , laughters , displays of patience and turmoil. We had our dry periods , rough times and better moments .

I was inspired , it inspired me to be better. Most important thing for being a guy is to be responsible , protective and solid . I'm still learning and sometimes cannot escape from making mistakes from old habits. Women will always have their occasional cranky moods (or Queen B mode .. hehe) , you can't change that , we guys just have to work around it and cope. However, having said that , women also must tolerate mistakes . We guys will always make a lot of mistakes , we're guys. But of course, depends on the type of mistakes we make. If we forgot to buy something , didn't do certain things or said something stupid / trivial , theres no need to fire up all the cannons of rage and fire us hehe... patience. Compromise.

Well you won't know unless you're in it right ? who am I to say these things like some marriage guru right ? hehe

All I know is that I am working hard to make my relationship work . I'm done looking . I know who it is I want and who I should be. Just need to make more $$$ now hehe..


P/s: Btw, check out Yasmin Ahmad's blog . Read the post about her parents , very sweet story :)

If politics don't exist

Hey, its that time of the year where a bunch of individuals start promising you the world , only if you start voting for them .

This is when you will see everybody starts to become extra extra efficient in their jobs. Suddenly you see ads with subliminal messages convincing you not to vote for the other side. Your neighborhood is littered with banners and leaflets , arranged creatively to get your attention.

Ahh the world of politics. 'You scratch my back, I scratch yours'. I just wondered for a while and imagined, what if politics don't exist or considered a sin? I think everybody will start to work harder and deliver what they're supposed to. The right people will be in the position of power and maybe we might get to see this thing called 'justice' .

These are testing times for politicians , they are gonna need every 'ayat manis' they can get to convince the 'rakyat' to vote for them. Promises of better things to come , whether they're empty ones or not , seems to be the primary bait to get votes. This time of year is probably the period with the most charity events. Everybody is so generous all of a sudden. Where was the help when it was really needed ? Why is the help not provided on a consistent basis ?

I'm no politician, but if I were to be one, I'd take my term as one long period , instead of just shining during elections. I'd have a long term plan and contribute strategically and consistently throughout my tenure. In that way people can evaluate you better, not what you do during the election period only. Sadly , that seems to be the case nowadays . These candidates only come and visit you during elections. When its not the elections, they disappear. You don't see them making frequent visits or do charities. When you lodge a complaint to them, hoping to get some action , all you get is a written reply given through the person's secretary.

If you want to represent the people, you gotta be with the people. Simple. You appear more, you'll be remembered. People will be able to relate to you.

And even at work , these things happen. When you are nearing your performance appraisal month, in my case, you'll start to see dozens of e-mails sent per day , just to tell the powers that be that you are actually working. Yes, there is an e-mail culture going on. You are only as good as how many e-mails you send . Suddenly you feel as though all your hard work in the background and all the contributions go down the drain. And its also the time when you see how politics are played. You make deals with the Devil . You forge unlikely alliances with individuals that could help you get better promotions or recommendations . You can be the most unproductive , lazy and most-hated person to work with, but if you know the right people , you're set. If you rub shoulders with the wrong people , you're dead. At the end of the day , the wrong people gets rewarded while the ones who deserves it more, gets sidelined . Why ? because they don't play this dirty game called politics. How can you be an excellent employee when the only time you're in the workplace is at the start and end of the working hour? Most of the time you disappear.

Hehe , its funny because this is actually the quickest way to get to the top. You don't need to have excellent qualifications . All you need is excellent communication and networking skills. And of course , an amazing talent for acting !

Try to imagine a world without politics ...

Close your eyes ...

Do you see a better well-being for all humankind ?

I do ...