I have been writing in Blogger since 2003, thus it almost 10 years since I start blogging. It's a difficult decision to leave Blogger, for all the memories, joy and tears, we shared through all my journey of life.
However, I have decided to move on with something new. I managed to stick with Blogger during the time where all my blogging friend changed their platform to Movable Type, Wordpress and many other cool blog platform. And now Blogger is way cooler than all of them, but I decided to switch. Talking about how people change their mind.
I'm moving to Tumblr. Not because they have some kind of extra feature that made me change my mind, but somehow, some change would be a fresh starting point. And I hope by that it will keep me blogging despite my hectic grad student life.
But if it bores me, it's not impossible I return back to this ground.
So find me in my new playground:
http://fidanuar.tumblr.com
よろしく．
Showing posts with label Better Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Better Life. Show all posts
I spend the whole Saturday watching online drama and tweaking layouts. And venturing into Hatena. Not something productive physically I tell you, but lazying around do give me some blissful feeling.
I am not sure whether it is the sign of aging or maturity that get me thinking I am getting lazier and lazier, day by day. I used to have habit in diligently drilling into html or xml codes to get what I want for the layout, sadly, I am no more near that feeling. Just upload the downloaded templates from the Internet, add some Blogger gadgets and Twitter/Facebook widgets, gotcha here I am. Simple, I don't even have blogroll now.
I remember I signed up with Blogger service since 2002, and have been blogging ever since although I changed URL few times and lost my early archives. This blog has seen my ups and downs in life. I have been tempted to switch to WordPress and Movable Type, for reason that they have cooler features and designs, but true what people said, first love remains forever. I first fall in love with Blogger and for that reason, I decided to keep blogging in this platform.
Even after I found Hatena and their cool features like Diary(the blog service, with some cute layouts to drool), Fotolife (replacement of Flickr and so on), Haiku (similar like Twitter), Ugomemo(you can create your own drawings and scribbles; normally by Nintendo DS, big thing in Japan) and Bookmark(like you share links on Facebook), I keep with my decision, to stay blogging in English, in Blogger.
As a non-native English speaker, I used to suck in English (in fact I still do), mispronouncing words is my common habit, when I was in elementary school, I cannot understand any English fiction I read and I don't score much in my high school English exam. I started blogging initially just to share my own thought, and like others do, to improve my writing skill in English. Without realizing it, blogging does improve my English skill.
When I come to Japan, one problem that I have to face is the challenge of maintaining the English skill (which already broken prior coming here, unfortunately) and yet at the same time, improve the skill in Japanese. I bet it is common challenge to all foreigners here (who interested to learn Japanese and has not gave up yet, obviously).
So I decided to start blogging in Japanese, for the same initial reason when I start blogging in English. It is the same feeling, embarrassed by limited vocabulary and broken grammar rules, but learning is never an easy process. It's like climbing the mountain, they said, you stopped to take your breath, then continue walk up the path.
My Hatena user ID is groover58. Yoroshiku.
p/s- One of Hatena blogger that I love.
I am not sure whether it is the sign of aging or maturity that get me thinking I am getting lazier and lazier, day by day. I used to have habit in diligently drilling into html or xml codes to get what I want for the layout, sadly, I am no more near that feeling. Just upload the downloaded templates from the Internet, add some Blogger gadgets and Twitter/Facebook widgets, gotcha here I am. Simple, I don't even have blogroll now.
I remember I signed up with Blogger service since 2002, and have been blogging ever since although I changed URL few times and lost my early archives. This blog has seen my ups and downs in life. I have been tempted to switch to WordPress and Movable Type, for reason that they have cooler features and designs, but true what people said, first love remains forever. I first fall in love with Blogger and for that reason, I decided to keep blogging in this platform.
Even after I found Hatena and their cool features like Diary(the blog service, with some cute layouts to drool), Fotolife (replacement of Flickr and so on), Haiku (similar like Twitter), Ugomemo(you can create your own drawings and scribbles; normally by Nintendo DS, big thing in Japan) and Bookmark(like you share links on Facebook), I keep with my decision, to stay blogging in English, in Blogger.
As a non-native English speaker, I used to suck in English (in fact I still do), mispronouncing words is my common habit, when I was in elementary school, I cannot understand any English fiction I read and I don't score much in my high school English exam. I started blogging initially just to share my own thought, and like others do, to improve my writing skill in English. Without realizing it, blogging does improve my English skill.
When I come to Japan, one problem that I have to face is the challenge of maintaining the English skill (which already broken prior coming here, unfortunately) and yet at the same time, improve the skill in Japanese. I bet it is common challenge to all foreigners here (who interested to learn Japanese and has not gave up yet, obviously).
So I decided to start blogging in Japanese, for the same initial reason when I start blogging in English. It is the same feeling, embarrassed by limited vocabulary and broken grammar rules, but learning is never an easy process. It's like climbing the mountain, they said, you stopped to take your breath, then continue walk up the path.
My Hatena user ID is groover58. Yoroshiku.
p/s- One of Hatena blogger that I love.
picture taken from flickr@hiromyまぶしい光に 憧れた
その日 殻にヒビが入った
思い切って のぞいて
初めて見た高い空
嬉しくもなって 手をのばした
同時に怖くもなった
この羽の使い方は
とてもじゃないけど解らない
小さく小さく 風に負けても
信じきってみたい
青い空に高く 今なら飛べるかな
もしこのまま 落下しても
今はそれでもいい
宝を持ったこと 幸でもあり
欲望にのまれたりもする
こんなはずじゃなくて 何度も言った
素直な気持ちだった
小さな世界をやぶって
大きく君を愛したい
青い空に高く いろんな景色を見て
もしこのまま 落下しても
今はそれでもいい
朱く泣く道しるべ
心は透き通って
いつか大きくうなずく
青い空に高く
今なら飛べるかな
もしこのまま 落下しても
今はそれでもいい
青い空に高く
今なら飛べるよね
もしこのまま 落下しても
今はそれでイイ
-大塚愛 「羽ありたまご」
For those who dream big, and want to make it a reality. Good luck.
I had read 'The Art and Wisdom of Management: His Life and Management Philosophy' by Konosuke Matsushita, the founder of Panasonic and Matsushita Corporation. And it is not just my other normal reading, which I do just to fill my empty pastimes and to kill the time, this one is more like a homework. I need to submit a report, sort of a blurb and comment regarding the management style of Matsushita-san and a bit about the history of his life.
One of the Matsushita management style is 'Sunao' mind. Sunao, as described by Matsushita-san himself that there is no direct translation for the word in English, is actually the level of human mind where it becomes free, transparent and able to decide and think without any prejudice. The sunao mind, he said, is the main factor for Matsushita successful business and management style all this while. He claimed that by having sunao mind, it had give him the opportunity to decide the best decision for his company and business, no matter how hard the economic and political situation that affect the business.
I found Matsushita-san philosophy has many similarities with the Islamic philosophy of life. By having unbiased and no prejudice mentality and state of mind. By having the attitude that everyone has their own responsibilities to the society. And to know that everyone has their own limitation and thus, don't go overboard.
It saddened me to realize that some Muslim doesn't even practice this philosophy in their life, let alone in their business. It frightened me even more to realize that some Muslim do the total opposite things than one's should follow in Islamic way, but then claimed their wrong act to be Islamic. What a shame.
I was at first thought that this one will just end up as other normal assignments and normal report writings. Man, was I wrong. I finished the last page with new perspective of life, a fresh thoughts on my mission, and of course, seed of a sunao mind just started growing inside of me.
p/s-
1. On a more personal note, I'm still busy revising my math for the entrance exam this August. がんばれ，がんばれ，もっとがんばれ！
2. Done with Murakami Haruki's Kafka on The Shore. Awesome, my big applause. Really wanna read his latest 1Q84. Really.
And finally Japan get his shares on H1N1 influenza strain. Two students and one teacher who returning back from a student exchange program in Canada complaining that they have flu-like symptoms and quickly quarantined once they arrived in Narita.
And coincidently, Canada reported their first death of the influenza strain.
World without borders. Globalization. That's the fact of world we live in today. If knowledge, cultures and sex tapes can spread all over the globe in split seconds, why can't a virus do the same thing?
More on the global note, Pope Benedict XVI had called for an interfaith reconciliation, on his second day tour of Middle East. Al Jazeera reported him quoting 'He said Muslims and Christians must strive to be seen as faithful worshippers of God "because of the burden of our common history" that has often been marked by misunderstanding'. I'm not his fan, let alone a Christian but I do agree with him about the fact that all of us need to love each other and reconcile. Hating each other and killing people is just beyond insanity. The fact that many Muslims, Christian and even Jews had been killed by the name of war is something that need to be stopped.
Spread the love and today's Mother's Day. To my mum...
'Happy Mother's Day, Mak!. Untuk Mak paling hebat di dunia (overrated I know, but who cares, she's my mum!), Daus sayang Mak dunia dan akhirat dan mengucapkan mak berada dalam kesihatan yang baik dan kekal muda selalu dengan SKII! :)'
My Malay now sounds a bit rusty. The effect of talking Japanese, English and slang-ish Malay for so long. Masa untuk memperkasa bahasa ibunda, mungkin?
'Hanya cinta yang 'kan selalu
menyembuhkan sgala luka
Hanya cinta yang 'kan selalu
bisa membuktikan semua
keindahan hidup'
-Marcell, Hidup 2008
Thank you for blessing the road I walk on
That I’m walking on
I’m sorry for every mistake I fall on
Can’t help but fall
You’ve changed this heart in me
And I know, I can always count on You
To give me the signs
In the wind on my face
Each time I try to run
From the sight of Your grace
From the wrongs I have done
You shine down your light
each time I need a guide
I say to hearts in despair
There’s an answer to a prayer
Give me true love in my life, a peaceful mind
Save me from harm
Pull me back if I ever try to walk away
Don’t let me stray
You’ve changed this heart in me
And I know I can always count on You
To give me the signs
In the wind on my face
Each time I try to run
From the sight of Your grace
From the wrongs I have done
You shine down Your light
Each time I need a guide
I say to hearts in despair
There’s an answer to a prayer
Say to all hearts in despair, there’s an answer to a prayer
You’ve changed this heart in me
And I know I can always count on You
To hear my prayers
You shine down Your light
And I know there’s an answer to a prayer
You shine down Your light
Each time I need a guide
I say to hearts in despair
There’s an answer to a prayer
Still in the mood of holiday since it's long break called Golden Week in Japan. No, I'm not feeling anything near despair, but I feel this song by Anggun soothes my feeling and rejuvenate me. Whatever faith you hold and whatever religion you believe in, always remember that there's an answer to a prayer.
At least I believe in that.
Being away from Malaysia does not mean that I do not know what is going around back home. In the age of internet and globalization, everything in the world is connected.
Below is the line up of new cabinet under the leadership of Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak, the new appointed Prime Minister of Malaysia. I personally like the line up, especially the new Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water.
I wish every best to the new Prime Minister and his line up to work hard for the country. Having to live in country like Japan, where Malaysia is left behind comparatively, make me strongly believe that the spirit of Malaysia Boleh should be instilled back to our citizen. Like the Japanese says, 'がんばってください’(ganbatte kudasai) when they are wishing somebody for the best of luck, although it is not directly translated as good luck, but wishing ones a hard work in what their do. Comparing our level with Japanese, do we have time to relax and stay left behind?
Some personal note:
1-I'm still reading Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore and enjoying it. I need to start reading some Japanese reading stuff, and I found Kitajima Kosuke's autobiography, 夢，はじまる。。 (Dream, Begin...) is a good read. Yes, I'm a big fan of Kitajima (although I am not really a swimmer myself, but everytime I see Kitajima's face, I feel spirited and bersemangat)
2-Attending the advance Japanese class make me even spirited to brush up my Japanese level to a more advance level. My lab mate, Tanaka-san said my Japanese is good, but I know that is not really true. There are still thousands of kanji that I don't understand and so many words that slowed down my conversation with my Japanese friend. がんばります！
3-So far, there are only four Malaysians in my campus, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa Campus, including me. And from these four, two of them are Malay (again including me). I've get the opportunity to mingle with the international student community here in my campus, and few of them are saxophone player. I always find saxophone as interesting and sexy. Maybe I should learn how to blow a sax than oboe since the variety of tunes the sax can fit in.
Below is the line up of new cabinet under the leadership of Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak, the new appointed Prime Minister of Malaysia. I personally like the line up, especially the new Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water.
Prime Minister and Finance Minister 1: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak
Deputy PM and Education Minister: Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin
Ministers in Prime Minister’s Department
Unity and Performance Management: Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon
Law and Parliament: Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz
Religious Affairs: Brig. Gen. (Rtd) Datuk Jamil Khir Baharum
Economic Planning Unit: Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop
Deputies: Datuk Liew Vui Keong, Senator Datuk Dr Mashitah Ibrahim, Datuk SK Devamany, Ahmad Maslan, Senator T. Murugiah
Finance
Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak
Finance Minister II: Datuk Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah
Deputies: Datuk Chor Chee Heung, Datuk Dr Awang Adek Hussein
Education
Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin
Deputies: Datuk Wee Ka Siong, Datuk Puad Zarkashi
Transport
Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat
Deputies: Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri, Datuk Robert Lau
Home
Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein
Deputies: Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusop, Jelaing Mersat
Information, Communications, Arts and Culture
Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim
Deputies: Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum, Senator Heng Seai Kie
Energy, Green Technology & Water
Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui
Deputy: Noriah Kasnon
Plantation Industries and Commodities
Tan Sri Bernard Dompok
Deputy: Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin
Rural and Regional Development
Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal
Deputies: Datuk Hassan Malek, Datuk Joseph Entulu
Higher Education
Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin
Deputies: Dr Hou Kok Chung, Saifuddin Abdullah
International Trade and Industry
Datuk Mustapa Mohamed
Deputies: Datuk Muhkriz Mahathir, Datuk Jacob Dungau
Science, Technology and Innovation
Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili
Deputy: Fadillah Yusof
Natural Resources and Environment
Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas
Deputy: Tan Sri Joseph Kurup
Tourism
Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen
Deputy: Datuk Seri Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Abdul Taib
Agriculture and Agro-based Industries
Datuk Noh Omar
Deputies: Johari Baharum, Rohani Abdul Karim
Defence
Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
Deputy: Datuk Dr Abdul Latif
Works
Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor
Deputy: Datuk Yong Khoon Seng
Health
Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai
Deputy: Datuk Rosnah Rashid Shilin
Youth and Sports
Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek
Deputies: Datuk Razali Ibrahim, Wee Jeck Seng
Human Resources
Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam
Deputy: Datuk Maznah Mazlan
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs
Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri
Deputy: Datuk Tan Lian Hoe
Housing and Local Government
Datuk Kong Cho Ha
Deputy: Lajim Ukin
Women, Family and Community Development
Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil
Deputy: Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun
Foreign Affairs
Datuk Anifah Aman
Deputies: Datuk Lee Chee Leong, Senator A. Kohilan Pillai
Federal Territories
Datuk Raja Nong Chik Zainal Abidin
Deputy: Datuk M. Saravanan
I wish every best to the new Prime Minister and his line up to work hard for the country. Having to live in country like Japan, where Malaysia is left behind comparatively, make me strongly believe that the spirit of Malaysia Boleh should be instilled back to our citizen. Like the Japanese says, 'がんばってください’(ganbatte kudasai) when they are wishing somebody for the best of luck, although it is not directly translated as good luck, but wishing ones a hard work in what their do. Comparing our level with Japanese, do we have time to relax and stay left behind?
Some personal note:
1-I'm still reading Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore and enjoying it. I need to start reading some Japanese reading stuff, and I found Kitajima Kosuke's autobiography, 夢，はじまる。。 (Dream, Begin...) is a good read. Yes, I'm a big fan of Kitajima (although I am not really a swimmer myself, but everytime I see Kitajima's face, I feel spirited and bersemangat)
2-Attending the advance Japanese class make me even spirited to brush up my Japanese level to a more advance level. My lab mate, Tanaka-san said my Japanese is good, but I know that is not really true. There are still thousands of kanji that I don't understand and so many words that slowed down my conversation with my Japanese friend. がんばります！
3-So far, there are only four Malaysians in my campus, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa Campus, including me. And from these four, two of them are Malay (again including me). I've get the opportunity to mingle with the international student community here in my campus, and few of them are saxophone player. I always find saxophone as interesting and sexy. Maybe I should learn how to blow a sax than oboe since the variety of tunes the sax can fit in.
"You can be as mad as a mad dog at the way things went. You could wear, curse the fates, but when it comes to the end, you have to let go." -Capt. Mike
I cursed Google because I can't seem to google the right information as I want it to be. I cursed Blogger because I can't even open the site to publish not even a single post for Valentine or whatsoever. I cursed Youtube because I can't watch the Scrap Teacher drama because it was simply failed to load. And most importantly, I cursed Streamyx for snail-like connection speed in my office and Izzi for being so realistic to control the download speed for their so-called mobile broadband.
Enough cursing. When it comes to the end, I have to let go.
"Benjamin, we're meant to lose the people we love. How else would we know how important they are to us?" -Ms. Maple
The weekend was a hurricane of things. My primary school English teacher passed away because of sudden high blood pressure attack. I remember her dearly since I was seven, because she is my ex-classmate's mom and I joined her English tuition class for UPSR (and that is the only extra tuition class I ever joined for my dear whole school life). It shocked me when I heard the news, of course. But I believe it will be harder to the sons and families since her husband also has passed away few years back. My former primary school classmate now an orphan and he is the eldest in the family of six. He hugged me and called my name even though it has been 10 years since we met with each other. I am sorry for your loss, Danial. And my prayer with your mom's soul, always.
"Along the way you bump into people who make a dent on your life. Some people get struck by lightning. Some are born to sit by a river. Some have an ear for music. Some are artists. Some swim the English Channel. Some know buttons. Some know Shakespeare. Some are mothers. And some people can dance." -Benjamin
The quotes that come within the paragraph of this post is from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I watched it and I loved it. I admit I am a huge fan of Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. They are part of the league whom I adore and I like. And I admit what dragged me to the cinema hall last Sunday to watch it was solely because of both of them. But the beautiful wordings has give an extra point to my whole impression of the movie.
It has give me some sort of feeling to value the life from different perspective. From different view and angle. I looked back to the my whole 25 years of journey on this beautiful Earth and I know it might not as impressive as Mr. Button had, but I am forever grateful to God for every shower of blessings I have.
"It's a funny thing about comin' home. Looks the same, smells the same, feels the same. You'll realize what's changed is you." -Benjamin
I wonder about what my journey will look like in the next five or ten years time. Will I succeed in my graduate school plan? Would I hold the Masters scroll? What would happen next? I can't answer that, definitely. All I can do is keep moving, stay breathing, continue struggling for all I believe I deserve to have and pray to God that is the best for me. I walked through my memory lane and saw my face when I was a kid, free and easy, and then see my face now in the mirror and I realize I am looking to two different person.
"For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again." -Benjamin
I am on this journey to write the fiction on my own. The last chapter is about to coming to an end. And the next chapter will soon begin.
I hope it's not too late to post the new year wish since I only can get Internet connection in my office and here I am, back at work. I tried to rely on P1 Wimax for connection in my house but it turned out the connection was so slow and unreliable.
And anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR AND LET'S ROCK 2009! Everyone knows how suck 2008 was and how frightening 2009 will be, just forget the forecast and the downturns for just a moment and blow your wish.
While the world celebrating and cheerful with fireworks and so on, let's pray for the people of Gaza who definitely had unhappy new year moment. They don't have colorful fireworks there, just bombs and carnage. While some of you had new year's eve dinner with kids and family, they're hiding behind walls and crying over their babies death. Some of my friends just watched Schindler's List and I am totally agree with comments and morale from the story. If Israelis campaigning through Spielberg's piece that they're retaliating the Palestinians and Gaza people for what Hitler had done to them in the Holocaust, what make them different fron Nazi now? Retaliating is not the answer.
On the other note, I wish 2009 to be more productive, lovely and peaceful.
-I wish to pass University of Tokyo's entrance exam for Graduate Program in Sustainability Science in August.
-started to learn on how to play oboe
-continue my yoga practice.
-pass Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 2 in December
-start volunteering and living a green life to make this world a better place to live in.
-be a better Muslim
-excel in TOEFL this February
-own an iPhone
-hope to get a chance to travel more. Since I am going to Tokyo, I hope I can discover Kansai area (Osaka, Hyogo, Kyoto, Kobe, Nara) and Nagoya perhaps (since my fellow Panasonic friend, Ooi, will be heading there)
- be less procrastinate and hope to make more friends around the world. I am known to be the less talker and a bit introvert at first, but I am making effort to change.
The list grows day by day, but after all, it aims on being the better for the world. Let's hope this year it will come true.
________________________________________
Added on 08.01.2009:
I forgot to add that I am seriously want Panasonic LX-3 this year. I want to shoot more awesome pictures and pursue my journey in photography. Let's hope that will come true as well.
I found this from one of my friend in her Facebook note and it totally move me inside out. I haven't heard any good and moving speeches for so long (except from Barack Obama or Tun Dr. Mahathir), so this one is one good motivational piece to think about.
This speech is by Adrian Tan, a Singaporean and a litigator, during Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University graduation ceremony. Read this until the end, relate it to your life and think.
It's going to be a bit lengthy but believe me it's a worth read.
Happy Friday y'all.
More info about Adrian Tan is here.
This speech is by Adrian Tan, a Singaporean and a litigator, during Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University graduation ceremony. Read this until the end, relate it to your life and think.
It's going to be a bit lengthy but believe me it's a worth read.
Happy Friday y'all.
More info about Adrian Tan is here.
Life and How to Survive It
I must say thank you to the faculty and staff of the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information for inviting me to give your convocation address. It’s a wonderful honour and a privilege for me to speak here for ten minutes without fear of contradiction, defamation or retaliation. I say this as a Singaporean and more so as a husband.
My wife is a wonderful person and perfect in every way except one. She is the editor of a magazine. She corrects people for a living. She has honed her expert skills over a quarter of a century, mostly by practising at home during conversations between her and me.
On the other hand, I am a litigator. Essentially, I spend my day telling people how wrong they are. I make my living being disagreeable.
Nevertheless, there is perfect harmony in our matrimonial home. That is because when an editor and a litigator have an argument, the one who triumphs is always the wife.
And so I want to start by giving one piece of advice to the men: when you’ve already won her heart, you don’t need to win every argument.
Marriage is considered one milestone of life. Some of you may already be married. Some of you may never be married. Some of you will be married. Some of you will enjoy the experience so much, you will be married many, many times. Good for you.
The next big milestone in your life is today: your graduation. The end of education. You’re done learning.
You’ve probably been told the big lie that “Learning is a lifelong process” and that therefore you will continue studying and taking masters’ degrees and doctorates and professorships and so on. You know the sort of people who tell you that? Teachers. Don’t you think there is some measure of conflict of interest? They are in the business of learning, after all. Where would they be without you? They need you to be repeat customers.
The good news is that they’re wrong.
The bad news is that you don’t need further education because your entire life is over. It is gone. That may come as a shock to some of you. You’re in your teens or early twenties. People may tell you that you will live to be 70, 80, 90 years old. That is your life expectancy.
I love that term: life expectancy. We all understand the term to mean
the average life span of a group of people. But I’m here to talk about a bigger idea, which is what you expect from your life.
You may be very happy to know that Singapore is currently ranked as the country with the third highest life expectancy. We are behind Andorra and Japan, and tied with San Marino. It seems quite clear why people in those countries, and ours, live so long. We share one thing in common: our football teams are all hopeless. There’s very little danger of any of our citizens having their pulses raised by watching us play in the World Cup. Spectators are more likely to be lulled into a gentle and
restful nap.
Singaporeans have a life expectancy of 81.8 years. Singapore men live to an average of 79.21 years, while Singapore women live more than five years longer, probably to take into account the additional time they need to spend in the bathroom.
So here you are, in your twenties, thinking that you’ll have another 40 years to go. Four decades in which to live long and prosper.
Bad news. Read the papers. There are people dropping dead when they’re 50, 40, 30 years old. Or quite possibly just after finishing their convocation. They would be very disappointed that they didn’t meet their life expectancy.
I’m here to tell you this. Forget about your life expectancy.
After all, it’s calculated based on an average. And you never, ever want to expect being average.
Revisit those expectations. You might be looking forward to working, falling in love, marrying, raising a family. You are told that, as graduates, you should expect to find a job paying so much, where your hours are so much, where your responsibilities are so much.
That is what is expected of you. And if you live up to it, it will be an awful waste.
If you expect that, you will be limiting yourself. You will be living your life according to boundaries set by average people. I have nothing against average people. But no one should aspire to be them. And you don’t need years of education by the best minds in Singapore to prepare you to be average.
What you should prepare for is mess. Life’s a mess. You are not entitled to expect anything from it. Life is not fair. Everything does not balance out in the end. Life happens, and you have no control over it. Good and bad things happen to you day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. Your degree is a poor armour against fate.
Don’t expect anything. Erase all life expectancies. Just live. Your life is over as of today. At this point in time, you have grown as tall as you will ever be, you are physically the fittest you will ever be in your entire life and you are probably looking the best that you will ever look. This is as good as it gets. It is all downhill from here. Or up. No one knows.
What does this mean for you? It is good that your life is over.
Since your life is over, you are free. Let me tell you the many wonderful things that you can do when you are free.
The most important is this: do not work.
Work is anything that you are compelled to do. By its very nature, it is undesirable.
Work kills. The Japanese have a term “Karoshi”, which means death from overwork. That's the most dramatic form of how work can kill. But it can also kill you in more subtle ways. If you work, then day by day, bit by bit, your soul is chipped away, disintegrating until there’s nothing left. A rock has been ground into sand and dust.
There's a common misconception that work is necessary. You will meet people working at miserable jobs. They tell you they are “making a living”. No, they’re not. They’re dying, frittering away their fast-extinguishing lives doing things which are, at best, meaningless and, at worst, harmful.
People will tell you that work ennobles you, that work lends you a certain dignity. Work makes you free. The slogan "Arbeit macht frei" was placed at the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps. Utter nonsense.
Do not waste the vast majority of your life doing something you hate so that you can spend the small remainder sliver of your life in modest comfort. You may never reach that end anyway.
Resist the temptation to get a job. Instead, play. Find something you enjoy doing. Do it. Over and over again. You will become good at it for two reasons: you like it, and you do it often. Soon, that will have value in itself.
I like arguing, and I love language. So, I became a litigator. I enjoy it and I would do it for free. If I didn't do that, I would've been in some other type of work that still involved writing fiction – probably a sports journalist.
So what should you do? You will find your own niche. I don’t imagine you will need to look very hard. By this time in your life, you will have a very good idea of what you will want to do. In fact, I’ll go further and say the ideal situation would be that you will not be able to stop yourself pursuing your passions. By this time you should know what your obsessions are. If you enjoy showing off your knowledge and feeling superior, you might become a teacher.
Find that pursuit that will energise you, consume you, become an obsession. Each day, you must rise with a restless enthusiasm. If you don’t, you are working.
Most of you will end up in activities which involve communication. To those of you I have a second message: be wary of the truth.
I’m not asking you to speak it, or write it, for there are times when it is dangerous or impossible to do those things. The truth has a great capacity to offend and injure, and you will find that the closer you are to someone, the more care you must take to disguise or even conceal the truth. Often, there is great virtue in being evasive, or equivocating. There is also great skill. Any child can blurt out the truth, without thought to the consequences. It takes great maturity to appreciate the value of silence.
In order to be wary of the truth, you must first know it. That requires great frankness to yourself. Never fool the person in the mirror.
I have told you that your life is over, that you should not work, and that you should avoid telling the truth. I now say this to you: be hated.
It's not as easy as it sounds. Do you know anyone who hates you? Yet every great figure who has contributed to the human race has been hated, not just by one person, but often by a great many.
That hatred is so strong it has caused those great figures to be shunned, abused, murdered and in one famous instance, nailed to a cross.
One does not have to be evil to be hated. In fact, it’s often the case that one is hated precisely because one is trying to do right by one’s own convictions. It is far too easy to be liked, one merely has to be accommodating and hold no strong convictions. Then one will gravitate towards the centre and settle into the average. That cannot be your role. There are a great many bad people in the world, and if you are not offending them, you must be bad yourself. Popularity is a sure sign that you are doing something wrong.
The other side of the coin is this: fall in love.
I didn't say “be loved”. That requires too much compromise. If one changes one's looks, personality and values, one can be loved by anyone.
Rather, I exhort you to love another human being. It may seem odd for me to tell you this. You may expect it to happen naturally, without deliberation. That is false. Modern society is anti-love. We’ve taken a microscope to everyone to bring out their flaws and shortcomings. It far easier to find a reason not to love someone, than otherwise. Rejection requires only one reason. Love requires complete acceptance. It is hard work – the only kind of work that I find palatable.
Loving someone has great benefits. There is admiration, learning, attraction and something which, for the want of a better word, we call happiness. In loving someone, we become inspired to better ourselves in every way. We learn the truth worthlessness of material things. We celebrate being human. Loving is good for the soul.
Loving someone is therefore very important, and it is also important to choose the right person. Despite popular culture, love doesn’t happen by chance, at first sight, across a crowded dance floor. It grows slowly, sinking roots first before branching and blossoming. It is not a silly weed, but a mighty tree that weathers every storm.
You will find, that when you have someone to love, that the face is less important than the brain, and the body is less important than the heart. You will also find that it is no great tragedy if your love is not reciprocated. You are not doing it to be loved back. Its value is to inspire you.
Finally, you will find that there is no half-measure when it comes to loving someone. You either don't, or you do with every cell in your body, completely and utterly, without reservation or apology. It consumes you, and you are reborn, all the better for it.
Don't work. Avoid telling the truth. Be hated. Love someone.
You're going to have a busy life. Thank goodness there's no life expectancy.
I was surfing the web and browsing through some blogs and columns before my eyes settled down on one topics, the body odor or BO. Having the experience of riding the train to commute to work everyday, I must say that BO plays an important role in your self image.
One of my college mate, fQrl blog about BO and daily KL commuters life in his blog, which I found amusing and annoyingly true. Through out my observation on Malaysian men (from friends, family and acquaintances), there are few types of men when it comes to perfume:
1-The metrosexual type: Those who dare to invest in perfume, and look and smell good all the time, including after bed image. Gosh, do we have Beckham in our shores? The metros tend to have different type of perfumes, suits with different situation and function.
2-The homosexual type: While homosexuality and metrosexuality is categorized in two different entity (homo is sexually attracted to same sex, while metrosexual more towards image and well-groomed mens), but I can see both are relatable. The homos somehow I think is likely to experiment more in fragrances, as they can wear ladies perfumes to experiment with (which somehow I think the metros confined within mens fragrances, just my opinion).
3-The heterosexual type: I can see this category is subdivided into few others small groups of people. But most of them is either, not wearing perfume at all, not even a deodarant and minyak attar (this type of people who normally has BO and annoys fellow commuters and their friend without even realize it). On the other hand, there are people from this group who manages to stand out from the rest and at least use one type of perfume, from one specific brand and use it for the dear whole life. This type of men has potential to be metros, just they need sort of motivation (financially etc) to be so.
Ehem, I am better not putting myself under which category.
I was also stumbled across a site of Pheromons Institute, who sells human pheromons specifically to attracts mens or womens when you are using it. Okay, this is interesting. Attracts people just by natural odor, without you even know what kind of smell it is. Dare to give it a try?
I know it has been too late to blog this piece out, because these are for 2008 (from what they say). But hey come on, better life is not specifically for 2008. It definitely can be applied for the dear of whole lifetime.
Some of the things sounds yoga-ish, but I strongly believe it is safe for us Muslims. Cheers for a better life, folks!1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate anti-depressant.
2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
3. Buy a DVR and tape your late night shows and get more sleep.
4. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, ‘My purpose is to __________ today.’
5. Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
6. Play more games and read more books than you did in 2007.
7. Make time to practice meditation, and prayer. They provide us with daily fuel for our busy lives.
8. Spend time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6.
9. Dream more while you are awake.
10. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
11. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli, almonds & walnuts.
12. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
13. Clear clutter from your house, your car, your desk and let new and flowing energy into your life.
14. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip, OR issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
15. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
16. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.
17. Smile and laugh more. It will keep the nagative blues away.
18. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
20. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
21. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
22. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
23. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
24. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
25. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: ‘In five years, will this matter?’
26. Forgive everyone for everything.
27. What other people think of you is none of your business.
28. Remember God heals everything.
29. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
30. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
31. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
32. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
33. The best is yet to come.
34. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
35. Do the right thing!
36. Call your family often.
37. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements: I am thankful for _______. Today I accomplished ____.
38. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.
39. Enjoy the ride. Remember this is not Disney World and you certainly don’t want a fast pass. You only have one ride through life so make the most of it and enjoy the ride.
40. Laugh when you can, apologize when you should, and let go of what you can’t change.
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