That's when I decided to move back to Malaysia, a place where, many things may not be right at the moment but it's somewhere I can be proud to be a citizen, not a permanent resident or foreigner. Now I believe that, no matter where you are, there are opportunities abound, you just need to know where and when to find it. Then I read the book 'The Alchemist' which further cemented my opinion about the whole thing. No matter what situation we are put in, we have the power to decide what we are going to do about it and how we want to end up. A close friend of mine once shared this with me, 'Whether you make it or not in life, we will find out when we are old. What a powerful statement. This blog post will serve as a reminder to me about that.
Monday, May 28, 2012
The grass is always greener on the other side?
"The grass is always green on the other side" That was what I thought so as well when I was younger when I set of to Australia to study and then later to Singapore to work. Then I grew older and realized that, being single and staying overseas is never easy. For one thing you don't have your family and loved ones close by (unless you have a girlfriend/boyfriend or husband/wife with you). After making the money I had wanted to make in the first place over and over again, I started to realize that in fact, money is not everything. It's true what people say, but then, living alone, everything is money and at the end of the day, you're still alone.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
May 12, 2012
This date is very special to me, why? Because it's my birthday! I was born a day before my dad celebrated his 24th birthday back in 1977. Mother's day happens to fall on my dad's birthday as well so for the past 35 years, as a family we will celebrate my birthday, my dad's birthday and mother's day at the same time.
Today, as I grow older I don't really remember how we celebrated 2 birthdays and mother's day in the past years but this year because my dad was outstation attending some functions on my birthday, I didn't go back to my hometown to celebrate with them. Instead my wife and I went for Japanese Shabu Buffet in KL and stuffed our faces full of food. The next day while browsing Facebook, I came across some friends postings of a wrecked rare Ferrari 599GTO which I have never heard about even (maybe because I'm outdated! haha) which hit a taxi and was driven by some PRC young rich guy. Being the natural kepo I am, I dug deeper into the story because I'm a sucker for stories about car crashes (not that I am a fan) but because I feel sympathetic for the victims especially the innocent ones.
I also find it creepy to think that while we were enjoying ourselves on a very special occasion, there are people suffering because of a split second of carelessness of one person. Over the next 3 days many stories related to the accident surfaced, mostly about the victims which drew a barrage of criticism of foreign nationals in Singapore and their supposedly horrendous driving skills which claimed innocent lives.
There is one thing I find particularly interesting about the whole thing which many may have missed out. Although I must mention beforehand that this may not have any connection whatsoever, it creeps me out just thinking about it. This is something typically out of a Final Destination 1-5 type of movie plot. Ok it goes like this. Think back 4 years ago to May 12, 2008. This is a day that is etched in the annals of history forever as the day of the Sichuan (China) earthquake that killed up to 70,000 people and left another 17,000 or so missing.
The young 'private investor' Ferrari 599 GTO driver whose supercar rammed into a Hyundai Sonata taxi killing him on the spot and the Singaporean driver of the taxi and his Japanese passenger later on hailed from Sichuan, China. So what do you reckon? Death caught up with him to 'collect' his dues?
May 12 also marks another disturbing international incident that may not have had much coverage by the media was the May 12, 2007 Karachi riots. May 12, 1969 was also the eve of the May 13, 1969 racial riots here in Malaysia more than 40 years ago which saw more than 2,000 people dead on the streets.All the major events that occurred on May 12 in history was:
- May 12, 2003 - Bombing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia killing 35 people and injuring 160 others
- May 12, 2007 - Karachi, Pakistan riots killing dozens of people
- May 12, 2008 - Earthquake in Sichuan, China killing around 70,000 people
- May 12, 2010 - Afriqiyah Airways flight crashes killing 16 passengers
- May 12, 2012 - Rare Ferrari crashes into taxi in Singapore killing 3 people and injuring a few others
History has proven with a few events to testify that this date may be one of the more unlucky days of the year but for me and my family, it's a day of celebration rather than one of mourning or gloom as a select few are forced to go through. Something to ponder about...
Today, as I grow older I don't really remember how we celebrated 2 birthdays and mother's day in the past years but this year because my dad was outstation attending some functions on my birthday, I didn't go back to my hometown to celebrate with them. Instead my wife and I went for Japanese Shabu Buffet in KL and stuffed our faces full of food. The next day while browsing Facebook, I came across some friends postings of a wrecked rare Ferrari 599GTO which I have never heard about even (maybe because I'm outdated! haha) which hit a taxi and was driven by some PRC young rich guy. Being the natural kepo I am, I dug deeper into the story because I'm a sucker for stories about car crashes (not that I am a fan) but because I feel sympathetic for the victims especially the innocent ones.
I also find it creepy to think that while we were enjoying ourselves on a very special occasion, there are people suffering because of a split second of carelessness of one person. Over the next 3 days many stories related to the accident surfaced, mostly about the victims which drew a barrage of criticism of foreign nationals in Singapore and their supposedly horrendous driving skills which claimed innocent lives.
There is one thing I find particularly interesting about the whole thing which many may have missed out. Although I must mention beforehand that this may not have any connection whatsoever, it creeps me out just thinking about it. This is something typically out of a Final Destination 1-5 type of movie plot. Ok it goes like this. Think back 4 years ago to May 12, 2008. This is a day that is etched in the annals of history forever as the day of the Sichuan (China) earthquake that killed up to 70,000 people and left another 17,000 or so missing.
The young 'private investor' Ferrari 599 GTO driver whose supercar rammed into a Hyundai Sonata taxi killing him on the spot and the Singaporean driver of the taxi and his Japanese passenger later on hailed from Sichuan, China. So what do you reckon? Death caught up with him to 'collect' his dues?
May 12 also marks another disturbing international incident that may not have had much coverage by the media was the May 12, 2007 Karachi riots. May 12, 1969 was also the eve of the May 13, 1969 racial riots here in Malaysia more than 40 years ago which saw more than 2,000 people dead on the streets.All the major events that occurred on May 12 in history was:
- May 12, 2003 - Bombing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia killing 35 people and injuring 160 others
- May 12, 2007 - Karachi, Pakistan riots killing dozens of people
- May 12, 2008 - Earthquake in Sichuan, China killing around 70,000 people
- May 12, 2010 - Afriqiyah Airways flight crashes killing 16 passengers
- May 12, 2012 - Rare Ferrari crashes into taxi in Singapore killing 3 people and injuring a few others
History has proven with a few events to testify that this date may be one of the more unlucky days of the year but for me and my family, it's a day of celebration rather than one of mourning or gloom as a select few are forced to go through. Something to ponder about...
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