Valorous Halcyon

This post is written with a heavy heart. In just a couple of days, few people around me passed away. A manager in my department who had been battling with blood cancer courageously had put on a good fight. My cell group leader's dad passed away. My friend's teacher also passed away. Another friend's primary schoolmate's mom also just passed away. On the side note, my favourite football team Arsenal also lost to a weaker Greek side, Olympiacos 2-3 AT HOME, thus killing any real chance of qualifying out of group stage for Champions League this year (since the next two games are up against the Almighty Bayern Munich who have just trashed Dinamo Zagreb by 5-0). All in sudden, I am again reminded that life is too short. Too short to be sad and depressed. Too short to be frustrated and hold grudge against someone you have conflict with, or someone who has wronged you. Two days ago I've read about this from "Seven Things That Steal Your Joy" by Joyce Mey...

The first time I heard of this word was from junk food. I loved eating junk food when I was growing up. Mamee Noodles snack, Twisties, Mi-mi, Doritos, Cheezels, Double Decker, Walkers, Lays and so on, you name it! I have probably tried them all, if not most. Over time though, my concern for health started to develop although that was just back in college not very long ago (about 4 years ago). I came to a realisation that I was overweight, and being overweight is probably the last place I will put myself at these days. The story of how I managed to turn over my entire lifestyle from being overweight into where I am today shall be left for another day. Although being overweight was not entirely due to junk food and (junk) soft drink, but also coupled by lack of exercising and messed up lifestyle, junk food and junk drink (soft drink in this case) definitely contributed a huge portion of the factors. That was when I chose temporary short term gratification over long term benefits and ...

I have been reading a lot on credit card lately, and I am applying one which I will elaborate further later. For those who already have a credit card or a few under their belt, you will understand that credit card can work as a double edged sword. If you think you will be out of control when you are on a shopping spree, and if you are the kind of person who will keep spending even though you are unsure of how you are going to finance it in a month time, it is advisable that you keep yourself as far away from credit card as possible, until you learnt the proper way of controlling your own spending habit. The key here is to spend less than you earn. However, if you are like me who will think not twice but thrice about buying something, and able to pay the bill on time, owning a credit card can provide you two main benefits: 1)  Building up your credit history. It is very essential to have your credit history built up once you have started working because sooner or later you will ...

Yesterday marked my 23rd birthday! While I could not quite put all my thoughts into words, I will try my best. If you have been following this blog for the past few weeks, I hope you will have noticed the increasing efforts I have put in to continue updating the blog. I have made this a commitment that I will update this blog at least once every two days, sometimes even more. This change, coupled with exercising every morning and reading every night after work, compose part of my transition process into the working life. This is the power of Habit! But I was trying to break one of it. The night before when my mom asked me on the time to wake up yesterday morning (since she's currently car pooling with me to work), I told her, "Early (it means we will depart from our house by 6:15am)". Understandbly she did not seem happy because then she will need to wake up early at as early as 5:30am. But because of my laziness and I was trying to give myself a break, I decided not to...

So yesterday and the night before I went to the World Changers Conference organised by my church (Acts Church) at Summit USJ 4th floor, and now I am a World Changer haha! Okay so the speaker of the conference is someone whom I have had never heard of, David Tjokrorahardjo. David what?! Don't worry, the name at the back was so hard to spell even, it took me literally one full minute to get it right haha! Unbeknownst to me, he is one of the managing principals of Sovereign Capital with its HQ based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Sovereign Capital is basically a private equity fund focuses mainly on early growth-stage companies with $1-10 million in revenue. But Sovereign Capital is not just an ordinary private equity fund, due to the fact that they not only focus on profitability of the companies, but also proven management team that is running the company based on STRONG ETHICAL VALUES. Wow!   While I am not going to bore you with everything he said during the conference, there are a...

This is the first part of a book I am currently reading (Seven Things That Steal Your Joy by Joyce Meyer) thanks to the recommendation given by my dear friend. As an author and one of the most recognised pastors, she did not grow up in a Christian family but rather like Oprah Winfrey, grew up in an abusive family. Expectantly she has gone through many sufferings and challenges, things that easily took away joy from her life. But over the years of experience, she has came out victoriously and can be joyful anywhere she goes, in whatever circumstances. How did she do that? Today I am going to review the first chapter of the book, on the first Joy Stealer. How often do you find yourself trying multiple attempts yet fail again and again? I did! Fortunately for me, it did not normally take me long to get the result I desired after second or third attempts. In the book, J. Meyer said that so often people rely on their own strengths, trying to change things around them and not relying on Go...

Having played futsal twice, first with my department colleagues two weeks ago, second time with my church friends just yesterday night, I deduced that I have so much to learn and improve on. In fact, I barely know anything about playing futsal, much less about the tactical formations and even the proper way of playing futsal. More on that later. I started my childhood with cycling at the playing field near my old house back in Setapak KL. As I grew older, I started picking up badminton and basketball. But in none of these sports I was truly good at. Most of the time I learnt by observing others, and by observing alone was insufficient to hone the skills of playing one sport. Along the way, there were few people kind enough to point out my mistakes and taught me the correct ways of playing these particular sports. But still, practice makes perfect and there was no instant where I got so committed at playing one sport that I get very good at it. While I play mediocre badmint...

The title of this entry might not sound enticing at all, but yesterday dinner was truly an exceptional experience to me. Me and my family went to Setapak, KL to visit my younger sister who was staying in UTM hostel, so we went out for a supposedly haste dinner at a hawker centre. As we arrived at the hawker centre, there was no free table available so we had to share the table with one of the tables with only one guy sitting there enjoying his meal. But it eventually turned out to be a meaningful dinner. If you know me well enough, I am a person who prefer to have meaningful conversations, conversations that can keep me pondering about various random ideas and hopefully leading to something constructive upon some deep thought process. The guy who was sitting right opposite us on the same round table, was a pensioner in his 60s hailed from Manchester, UK. I got quite excited and started to chat with him since I myself have just finished my study in Lo...

Very unsuspicious. Daniel hopped on the front of Jed's car along with another four of us at the back (hahaha I know... it was tad bit crowded!), and we started heading off to our predetermined lunch destination. After weeks of having Chinese dai-chao (大炒) for lunch, Daniel requested for a change asking for Siew-yok (烧肉) this time round and we were all more than happy to oblige! Just look at the dishes and tell me you are not tempted! Hahaha I bet you are, and indeed they were pretty scrumptious too! Anyway, after Ian and the rest arrived from another car and finished their meals earlier (as they were sitting at a separate table), the show began! Thanks to Ian's natural entertaining prowess, all of us started to burst into laughter, alongside with all of us singing birthday song to the birthday boy who just turned 24 a few days ago. Here are some of the pictures and you will understand why... absolutely creative idea of making a "mini model" of Audi R8 by us...

The last chapter of the book "Winning The Game of Life" was on being happy. After writing about steps to be successful, Adam Khoo aptly finished off the book with this fundamental trait yet may be difficult for some people. Many of us have heard of the stories of successful people, how they managed to get out of their comfort zones and strived for the best to succeed in all areas of their life. But have you ever thought that not all of them know how to be happy and be contented despite all they have achieved? Some people have to follow certain rules they have made up themselves to be happy. For instance, if things go according to my plans, I will be happy. If I managed to tick everything off my places-to-visit list, I will be happy. If I can buy the house/car, I will be happy. The list goes on and on. But what if I tell you, the happiness that induced from obliging all these rules are only short-term, only to leave you soon after and for all you know, you will start chasing...

So I have finally finished reading "Winning the Game of Life" by Adam Khoo last weekend. To summarise the entire book into one or two primary ideas seem to be degrading because there are just too many insights on steps to achieve success. Today I will focus on just one key idea - Loving Yourself. How is that a key idea? Many times we claim to be loving people around us so dearly, and by loving them it means wanting the best for them, helping them achieve their goals and live a happy successful life. But often we tend to settle less for ourselves, set a lower bar/standard so that we can easily achieve the goals, only to realise we have not really achieved anything significant. Why? Here is a person you have been living with for your entire life, wouldn't you want the best for this person, standing right in front of you when you face the mirror? Loving yourself is one of the first and foremost quality one must possess to position him/herself to success. As the adage ...

As I was answering a question asked about actuarial science in my email, I realised it may be useful to share my reply with whoever interested to know more about this course. Hope it helps. So here it goes... Question:   Since you are an actuarial science (for my kids - will be going to University in next few years), can you share with me, what type of career an actuarial science graduate like you do (i.e. option in career) and is it reasonably rewarded in Malaysia? Is the job fun? I am a CPA(M) and CFP, I have no regret taking it as it gave me the flexibility to become an auditor, corporate finance adviser, merchant/investment banker, CFO, Head of Investor Relations, etc.  My only knowledge about actuarial science is that they work in Insurance company, or banks (as risk management) etc. Anyway, is the syllabus tough?   My answer:   As for type of career an actuarial grad can pursue, it is almost boundless. If you look at the number of s...

Something I have been looking into these few days are life insurance policies. I was doing research as on which life insurance policy should I take up, but most insurers' websites do not provide quotes directly so it was difficult for me to calculate whether the policy is fairly priced or not. I've made a few appointments with some insurance agents and will get direct information from them next week. But not until I stumbled upon this website called UforLife , a platform offering instant quotes for life insurance policy, insured by Tokio Marine Life. No doubt it offers one of the cheapest quotes for similar amount of sum assured, but having calculated the future values (opposite of present value) of all these monthly premiums paid throughout the years until 75 years old, I realised something... Let's look at some simple calculations I've done on Excel based on these few assumptions for simplicity sake: Assumptions: 1) Inflation rate...

Ola everyone! Hope you guys are doing well. As usual, I have yet to receive any substantial work nor get assigned to any division so again I am pretty much free. As the seniors say, be happy with your free time now and enjoy as much as you can. But today as I was doing some reflections, I just want to share about my focuses and I see this blog as a perfect avenue to pen down every single thought. Personal development I see myself as a shy person, particularly to new people I have met. But this identity must change. Few days ago as I was reading a book called "Winning the Game of Life" by Adam Khoo, one of the topics wrote about changing Your identity. One core takeaway from this topic is that you will work towards what and how you view yourself, your perception and your own mindset. I find it particularly challenging to reflect on this, because all this while I have been telling myself I am an introvert and therefore it is natural (and it is okay) fo...

Dear readers, If you are following me from Facebook, you would most likely have known that I have graduated from my undergraduate degree and slowly transitioning into working life. Everything seemed so smooth as I went through 3-week On-boarding Programme without much problems, but only constant inspirations being poured out over and over again from my colleagues. How blessed more can I possibly get? Never had I got the opportunity to get close with many of my fellow scholars colleagues, but this 3-week On-boarding Programme was nothing short of awesomeness and close kinship built. First week spent on the Outward Bound School was very inspiring, and turned out beyond my expectation. Only three words can be concluded - friendship, inspiration and teamwork. Part of the reasons why OBS was beyond my expectation is due to the structure of activities planned. Most of them if not all, were catered in such a way that ignites the teamwork spirit in us and from within build bonds...