Valorous Halcyon

I’ve been back from my Vietnam trip for two weeks now but the memory I had in Vietnam was still vivid. Each time my friends asked me how was Vietnam, I found it difficult to put my two-week experiences in words. There are so many things I have gone through, from overcoming my fear of crossing the bustling streets of Ho Chi Minh with motorcycles coming from literally all directions, to riding a crazy taxi in Hanoi rushing back to my hostel to catch my sleeper bus ride to Sapa rice terrace. I watched my new found Australian mate riding an ostrich in Mui Ne for VND100k (~RM20), and I myself dived into the freezing water of Halong Bay twice with a rather less gracious posture compared to my friend working for a startup at Silicon Valley (my first dives after all). The memories put into the back of my mind was simply priceless. I know I will remember this trip for an extended period of time. Over the course of two weeks travelling alone, I had penned down a detailed record of my advent...

One full month! It’s been a month since my last post so you might be wondering where I have been. Just before the year 2015 ended, I have made the ONE decision that I never regretted making –booked the flight ticket to Vietnam for my first ever solo trip. I was having so much dilemma whether I should go out of my comfort zone and go for some exciting adventure. After two weeks spending time alone in Vietnam, it’s pretty safe to say there was never a moment I regretted making this bold decision, but rather I was filled with so much gladness and joy. I will leave that for the next post. Stay tuned! I spent my New Year’s Eve and New Year in Sapa (Vietnam), at one of the local farmer’s house. And then I remember making wishful New Year resolutions that most people will forget about after two months entering into the New Year. I don’t think I had written any New Year resolutions for 2014 and 2015, but along the way I still developed myself into a different person in relative to m...

Okay I lied. The first part of the title is not exactly my headline, but a term I casually adopted from a venerable author James Altucher. He wrote the book Choose Yourself and albeit I have yet to get my hand on it, I reckon it’s going to be mind-blowing. I definitely can’t wait to get one! Imagine ourselves lying on the floor, barely able to lift our heads, unsure of where and when to turn. James has thrived in the past by starting up so many companies, but hit rock bottom multiple times too. Every year is challenging for him, but he still continued to live each day clasping his Daily Practices (reading, writing, doing podcasts and inspiring others with his unique experience and brutally honest and creative ideas, BEING THANKFUL).  Just this week alone I have been pondering on the idea of happiness. Even during Sunday Service in church 5 days ago, my pastor talked about choosing happiness. How much more coincident can it get because I have been pondering the same though...

I almost did it again. Bought into the sweet words of a property agent and book a unit at Kepong V Residences. I’m glad I did not. As you all know I have been looking around for a property. My main intention for this purchase is for INVESTMENT. And then this popped up. Kepong 5 / Kepong V / Kepong Square, by UOA. Yes UOA! UOA is quite a reputable property developer that has been building projects after projects even before I was born. So I have no doubt about the quality of the project. If you haven’t heard of UOA because you are just a newbie like me or you haven’t been actively looking around for property, the entire Bangsar South is the masterpiece of UOA. So far so good. Now here’s the deal: Currently it is still at the soft launch period, or pre-launch mode if you like. For a soft launch project initiated by such a reputable developer, nothing can go wrong, right? Let’s delve into it further, shall we? Here’s the background: The project site is located at Jalan Lang E...

“Hey, how are you doing?” is one of the most common questions we ask others or people throw at us, whether we realize it or not. Ironically not many people are genuinely interested about how you are doing, but rather it serves just as a form of formality or conversation starter. Because we have been asked this question thousands of times, we subconsciously formed a default answer as well. “I’m fine / I’m doing great. Yourself?” becomes the default answer even when we don’t feel all that great at that point of time. What happens when we give a genuine answer? In other word, be our true self. For instance, when I don’t feel all that blissful and positive about life or simply being dissatisfied at my workplace, I say “ It is okay . I have been feeling tired at …xxx… and this boss has been squeezing me alive at work.” Some friends may be caught by surprises for giving them unconventional responses and become empathetic at our situations, but the rest would be like “Oh snap, I ...

As I walked towards the gate of my office after work, I saw this guy also walking towards the same direction with his friend. He’s my friend but his name seemed to vanish from my mind for a temporal moment, so for one whole minute I walked behind their back quietly. I hoped he never spotted me because I was ashamed of my wonky memory. When I finally managed to recall his name, he spotted me walking behind him and his friend. I couldn’t call out his name on time, so I just addressed him as “bro”. Hey Bro! How’s it going? The rest remain history. I believe I am not alone in this. I KNOW! I know. It sounds trivial. Not remembering other people’s names is a small matter and everyone does it, right? To be honest, yes it is. But if you come to think about it from a larger picture, this seemingly trivial matter has the capability to trickle into larger issues, and could be the one mammoth factor in determining one’s success in everything. Many business leaders and politicians kne...

The past weekend has been physically exacting for me, because I was irrational bold enough to join the Sports Day organized by my employer Bank Negara, knowing I was/am not much fitter than the majority population. Still I challenged myself. I knew the chance for me to win anything was extremely slim – close to 0%. I took the first step and stepped out of my comfort zone. I made an impulsive decision to sign up for 800m and 4x400m even before I had time to regret over my decision. I took the risk of embarrassing myself. The result? I managed to clock 2 minutes 47 seconds for my 800m run, attaining fourth place out of 6 runners. The runner who got third was not too far ahead of me, yet I had ran out of energy to sprint in my last 100m. Even more encouragingly, the other two runners in 5 th and 6 th places were physically fitter than me. For the first time in my life, I did not book the last spot in an athletic competition. It was a personal victory for me. I was extremel...