LENT SEASON IS COMING

Today is Wednesday (25^th Feb 09) and it’s Ash Wednesday – marking the beginning of the Lent Season.

In the English language, Lent was formerly referred to by the Latin term quadragesima (translation of the original Greek tessarakoste, the "fortieth day" before Easter)

FYI, Lent Season is a month – actually 40 days – of fasting from food, festivities and act of penance remarked by the Christians to reminisce the 40 days of temptations of The Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Yes, you heard me… it’s a month of fasting!

Talking about fasting, surely to me, it’s not literally going weak, making faces to everyone – as a result in lacking of food and drinks! (Mind you, I greatly abhor those types of hypocrites)

I couldn’t agree more with one of my colleagues when he said that Lent is a time to:

1. Eat “enough” food not to eat as if tomorrow never comes!

2. Minimized what you always do

(include Facebook, Friendster, IRC, blogging etc.)

Seems to me somebody is nailing it straight right? Ouch. LOL

3. Always give and forgive NOT “get and forget”.

4. Avoid showing off you are fasting with the “kryptonite” look!

(above all, I fancy this one)

Credit to the Art of the Lord

Frankly, I see Lent as a month of retreat for everything. Meaning to say, you are slowing down your pace on whatever endeavors, undertaking etc. and making time for ourselves to reflect back upon what has happened to us and our surroundings.

Give it a try and you’ll know what I mean (been doing it since yesterday). Funny as it can be, you may laugh at your own mistakes – i.e. knowing that all this while somebody is having the same feeling to you but refused to reveal it, hoping one day the other would initiate the first spark. (Example only, nothing to do with the living @ the dead)

Point is this fasting month will reveal to us all – something we have passed by @ missed because maybe, at that particular time we forgot to glimpse into the side mirror.

So, do continue your journey because it is the way it should be! Life goes on, no matter what. But, remember also to glance at your mirror (reflecting) on our past.

Happy Fasting and wishing you all the very best the life can offer!

Till the next posting.

WALK THE TALK @ TALK, AND WALK!

Ever heard someone saying “… it’s ok. No problem. Leave that matter to us, we’ll surely get them settle!” Sounds pretty assuring eh? You better watch out because you may be caught in this state of what I called “SS” a.k.a. “Shock Sendiri” – been a victim for several times already.

To me, they are not going to walk the talk immediately but mostly sort of, talk – with full gusto, trying to impress – and then walk straight away! And you? Are left far behind beyond horizon waiting eagerly for the so-called help which in the very first place was never yours.

Of course not all are doing these but I am directing this critic to those out there who mischievously doing their job without accountability. I believe, with one goof-off, will definitely louses up the whole lot.

Are we happy to expose our deficiencies in public? Surely not.

I often chuckled at our enthusiasm; good that we have it, but insufficient to be used, leaving us with leftovers – where in time will paralyzed our hard work and determination when left off course. We are often watered in abundance that we don’t know how to appreciate a little.

Meaning to say, we are having too much zeal that we can’t figure out what to do with them – leading us to phrases that only soothe the present but blinded by the past and neglecting the future.

It’s not that hard to mimic though, anyone can talk nicely, gesturing looking good to each other but off-stage, everything was just another play. I think this year’s Academy Award should be given to those hypocrites – even Meryl Streep should practice more!

In no time, we will be likening to Shakespeare’s poor player that struts and frets upon a clumsy stage – we by choice have chosen. In the end, it’ll be heard no more. What a lifetime qualms for just mere flash savor…

So, the next time you are to encounter this kind of situation, don’t be hastily “SS”. Ask whether we are “walking the talk” @ just “talk, and walk”. I prefer the former – which you should too.

C’mon peps, I believe we are better than this. The more we sweat now – correcting this misunderstanding – the less we’ll feel sorry for our generations in future.

Gaylord Nelson concluded it very well when he said “… the ultimate test of man’s conscience maybe his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generation whose words of thanks will not be heard”.

Till the next posting.

R.I.C.H.

From the perspective of someone who has little knowledge of financial literacy like me, Rich Dad poor Dad (RDPD) is indeed really an eye opening - best of all, easy to comprehend.






RDPD was once labeled as "the book that rocked the financial world" by The Wall Street Journal (2001) because it completely explodes the myth that you need to earn a high income to become rich, challenge the belief that our houses are an asset & most of all showing the parents why they can't rely on the school system to teach their kids about money!


Sounds ridiculous right? That's what I thought before but as I finished up the whole 266 pages, I kind of like the very idea of money as narrated by Robert T. Kiyosaki.


True as it may be, there is - as Robert suspected - some similar pattern in how we (the average-educated, hardworking families) grow up. Here is a situation which sounds familiar to us...


"The child is born & goes to school. The proud parents are excited because the child excels, get fair to good grades, & is excepted into college. The child graduated & does exactly as programmed - looking for a safe-secure career. The child finds the job (doctor, engineer, lawyer etc. @ works for the government) The child is making money, credit cards start to arrive & the shopping begins - you know, ladies like!"


"Having money to burn, the child goes to places where other young people just like them hang out (you know best folks!) they date & when it fits in they got married. Life is wonderful now, nowadays, both men & women work. Gone are the days where woman's place is at the stove. Since there are 2 incomes coming in, they feel successful, the future is bright & they decided to have a house, cars, tv set, take vacations & have sweetie little children. Since the happy bundle arrives, demand for money is also enormous."


"The happy couple decides that their career is vitally important and begin to work harder, seeking better promotions & raises. The raises come, & so does another child & the need for a bigger house. They work harder, become a better employee, taking up some major specialized skills, having a second job in order to increase their income. But, as income increases, so does the tax bracket they are in! They get their large amount of paycheck but often wonder where did the money went"


"The happy couple born 30 years ago, is now trapped in the Rat Race for the rest of their working days & yet advising their children to 'study hard, get good grades & get a safe career' where they themselves learn nothing about money, except from those who profit from their naivete & working hard all their lives! The process repeats into another hard-working generation. This is The Rat Race."


Does this scenario rings a bell? The question is, how to get out of this Rat Race puzzle? RDPD is the answer.


Robert suggests that one should at least know 2 very basics of financial literacy i.e. what's the difference between an asset & liability & the habit of investing instead of saving.


According to him, an asset is something thats brings in money into your pocket while liabilities are the opposite. In short, if you wanna be rich, then, starting on today accumulate your assets!


Then, the notion that saving all our money is the wisest thing to do is currently obsolete. Why? Because the value of our money which we have been saving for years back will never be similar to the present current value of worth, as money value depreciates against time according to the inflation rate.

So, if ever you have money, it is wise for you to invest some of them into stocks, bonds, mutual funds etc. Let money works for us! Only then can we reap the benefit of all the seed we've been planting.


Of course, it's hard to suddenly alter our mindset overnight, and the risk is always there, but the good news is that as the popular Texas saying said "everyone wants to got to Heaven, but nobody wants to die" This is liken to most of us, we wanna get rich but terrified of losing money out of risk.


Till the next posting.

PERFECT IMPERFECTION

There-there people. It has been awhile since the last posting. FYI, last week was extremely busy for the whole batch - doing our Geotechnical Engineering Design Project.

True it was tiresome and sluggishly time-consuming (seriously!) but to me, it's an eye-opening exposure - being pressured to make things straight in a week!


Anyway, that is NOT the real point of this post. This time, I feel like to have my say on PERFECTION. So peps, buckle up, here we go!


There was this cliché, “practice makes perfect”. But, being extroverts as we may be, some argued, since we are not perfect, why practice?

Fair enough at least, for the sake of the phrase itself but on the other rear, it is catchy to be discussed. So, here I go again.

To me, we are perfect! More than words can describe. Surprise? You better not because we are indeed PERFECTLY IMPERFECT! And that’s why we are perfect. Gotcha!







Meaning to say, our imperfections – be it physically, mentally, emotionally etc. – make us perfect, the way we should be. Nothing more, nothing less from each other.

People normally are being blinded by the word PERFECTION itself – nullifying our view, living us astray in judgments. Usually we (including me, most of the time) are forced to imply that being perfect is like this & that. The list goes on. You know better…

Why is this so? Again, it comes to our mindset. For we have been thought since time immemorial that this should be the way (I’ll write about this in my next posting later). Hence, it must be followed.

Sincerely, here is where we fail. Not because we failed to be perfect – no matter how hard we practiced, we’ll never perfect though, because we just don’t! – But, because we failed to acknowledge and rebuild our framework towards the word PERFECTION.





We chose to be slave when initially we are entrusted to be landlord of our own way of thinking.

It’s all about how you look at it that matters. The way you see it, for Heaven’s sake, is on your free will. But remember this, whenever you flawed, just bear with it because the moment you sense imperfection, you are already in perfection!

Till the next posting.

OF REWRI

I've traveled the world twice over,

Met the famous; saints and sinners,

Poets and artists, kings and queens,

Old stars and hopeful beginners,

I've been where no-one's been before,

Learned secrets from writers and cooks

All with one library ticket

To the wonderful world of books.

– Isaac Disraeli –

REWRI? What the hack is that? I consider it another brilliant merging of words. You know, if we can make "brunch" why not "rewri" - reading & writing! haha.

Disraeli has it all on reading like the one he describes in his poem. It brings us to the very places we would never imagine we might go. From the fantasies of the Toon’s Town to the World of Utopia in the future, we simply are the passengers in the writer’s time machine – best part is, it’s all FOC!

As for me, reading is part of me and I just can’t help to give up upon reading. Be it magazines, fictional & non-fictional materials, autobiographies, any genres, you name it. My favorite? Should be the one that is able to challenge my fundamental beliefs. It makes me alive!

To me, reading alone will bring little boons without re-writing the ideas down. For, it’s like seeking and learning knowledge– considered useless when left unapplied.

When we read, we are both at the same time write – literally in our minds. And when we write, of course, we’ll read. Believe me! So, to those of you – avid readers out there – it’s time to pen down something!

Never permit our ideas rolling away. By all means, carry on. Maybe we’re just talking craps and our writings are liken to be dump-site, might not touched the lives of millions creating major impact to the world but just once, it will help to maintain the chain of brotherhood among us – keeping us intact – (Email, Fbk, Fs etc. included)

Let’s build another “Philadelphia” a.k.a. “city of brotherly love” in this world of blogosphere.

So folks, keep on reading and writing. Who knows, you’ll be the next international bestsellers! Also remember, the MIND that WRITES, READS TWICE!

Till the next posting.