TRANSFORMERS - review

Friend of mine managed to buy the movie ticket four days in advance, tickets at that time was already selling out fast! I am talking hot cakes here!! I got really good seats for the show, and in my opinion it was probably the best movie I have ever seen in my entire life.

Optimus Prime (the robot on the left in the picture), has always been my favourite super hero since I was a kid. And to see him back in the big screen is something I just couldn't sit aside and not witness it. The cast for the show did very well, and the robots were designed to perfection right down to the finest details. The thing about the show that really made it stood out from most shows, is how the robots looked so real and how it just sort of seem they were actually in the scene and not some computer graphic. For those who watched Spiderman, I am sure you could tell the difference between the computer graphic and the real person.

The only small thing I didn't quite like was Megatron's (the robot on the right in the picture) design. Well, I wouldn't go as far as to say I didn't like it, but just that they didn't quite capture the essence of Megatron as the big gun which he used to be. But 10/10 points for design, after all his design does fit the more sophisticated era we live in today!

From the design, then comes the transformation. The scene when I saw the transformation, I went "OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!". The amount of details on the transformation was virtually flawless. For transformation graphics work - 10/10.

Then comes my super hero - Optimus Prime! Because of his character since his times in the cartoons, I have always loved him. A true leader who cares for his teammates, and a character willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of others. Only this time, he didn't die like in the previous cartoon movie (I am really glad).

Fight scenes were first class, no dodgy kung fu moves like some ridiculous shows. The moves were very smooth but robot-like. Simply fantastic!

Bottom line, it is by far THE best movie I have seen so far in my life and I intend to go see it again, and then go get the DVD for it. :)

Home........

Have you heard the song by Michael Buble, called home? To me, its one of the best songs ever written in these few decades. Meaningful, slow but melodious in its own away. When I listen closely to the lyrics (get the lyrics from HERE), it talks about someone away from home probably in order to make ends meat, and in search for better pastures. When I listen to it, I am drowned out by the meaningful lyrics which sounds so good with his voice. I guess, even I miss home even though I am not exactly far from it.

The feel of entering my home after a tough day at work, just feels so comfortable. I may not hear a welcome from a fancy butler nor I do I see a large chandelier in my home, but deep down, I feel a nice warmth that makes me feel good and just tells me in my heart, "you are home, kid!".

The best part about home? I get to have a quiet time for myself just to simply space out into the ceiling and resting my mind from all the worldly commitments that simply makes life a lot more burdensome. And, not to mention I get to blog!

Most importantly, my home is some place I can always turn to in times of motivation drought or confusion. Which, I am facing at this point in time. Work is never ending. Not surprising at all! But worst of all, I have difficulties trying to find my groove. Everytime I think I have learned something, I end up finding out I got it wrong all the while. Figuritavely speaking, imagine yourself walking up a staircase, and everytime just when you about to reach the next floor, someone kicks you right back down to the very first step you begin with. Frustrating? You tell me!

She ~ the ultimate weapon ~ another anime I am currently watching!

Shuuji and Chise (the girl in the picture) are third year students at a high school in Hokkaido. The shy Chise finally confesses her feelings to Shuuji, and the two of them awkwardly start exchanging a diary.

Chise is a simple, timid and often clumsy girl and she constantly wants to become stronger for the sake of Shuuji.

Not explicitly explained, but the show depicts Japan as undergoing war. In order, to defend itself against enemy attack, a professor found a cruel method to convert humans into a mechanism of destruction. Chise, becomes a victim to the professor hence, her form in the picture.

One day, Shuuji tries to escape from a sudden enemy air raid on their town. While desperately escaping from the air raid, Shuuji sees a scene that he would not forget for the rest of his life. He sees Chise, with huge weapons which looks like a part of her hand, shooting down the enemy fighters one by one. That's when he realises, Chise has become a weapon with a destructive power important to the outcome of the war.

This show is not much of an action show, but it is more of a romantic show that shows how Shuuji sacrifices a lot to be with Chise, the one he loves despite her form. For me, it is a good anime, but very much solemn in nature.

A trip up Ipoh, Perak....

Since I am having a slight break from weekend classes before the next semester kicks in, I took the opportunity to go down to Ipoh, Perak. Anyway, it is one of the states in Malaysia. I did not go there for a holiday, but it was more of a relative visiting thing.

In case you want to know where Ipoh is:-


The red circle in the map show Ipoh in Malaysia. From where I am - Selangor, it is about one hour forty five minutes drive assuming I keep to the speed limit.

It's good to be able to see my only surviving grandmother, aunties and uncles again - catch up with some lost time over tea and some nice snacks. There really isn't much to do in Ipoh except for eating! Food there, if you know where to go, can be pretty cheap and good tasting too. The highlight for my visit there was none other than beef ball noodles! Just to give you a rough idea why I call it the highlight - I had FIVE bowls of beef ball noodles. And, no I did not type wrongly, five bowls is correct! Unfortunately, I did not have a camera to capture the moment.

And another highlight was my 8 month old niece. She was the cutest thing! Small little baby with the fairest skin and BIG eyes. Inquisitive little baby was always looking around and always looking at me every time I made some funny face. Quick to smile, and always crawling around looking for new things to learn. I should be uploading the pictures soon once I get the time to transfer the photos from my camera to my computer!

Entrepreneurship....

Every now and then, some people make it big time in the business world either from, pioneering a fresh new business strategy to improving something that is thought to be already at it's best. Entrepreneurs can be found in virtually any part of this world. I guess, when you think about an entrepreneur in a global perspective, the first few people you might think of would be - William H. Gates who founded Microsoft, Steve Jobs who brought to us the iPod or even Warren Buffet arguably the best investor in THE world. Bring it down to a narrower perspective, the local scene - Tony Fernandes co-founder of AirAsia and Teh Hong Piow founder of Public Bank Berhad (equivalent to a PLC), and of course there are many more!

I guess, there are times when we sit down and ponder, "how exactly did these people turn out to be who they are?". Were they born with such innate ability? Did they have parents that constantly gave them inspiration to be their own boss? Did they have a natural eye for business opportunities? Or, did they just get lucky? I guess we'll never know exactly how they really made it. But one thing is really obvious - they certainly are a lot wealthier than we are, especially those of us earning an average paycheck at the end of the month. But are they really the epitome of entrepreneurship? But, do not get me wrong; I am by no means denying that they are entrepreneurs. But really, how many of us really know what entrepreneurship means?

Let's all fall back on the dictionary. Kindly provided from Dictionary.com, the word entrepreneurship means - a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, esp. a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk. So from visualizing some of the names I mentioned above, they would give near perfect examples. All of them took a substantial amount of risks doing what they did, and they made it. Not only did they make it, but they made it BIG time! Tony Fernandes, won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award last year, for example.

Looking at all these people, I can pretty much come to a conclusion that it is not impossible to really be able to achieve success. But we have to have, perseverance, patience, and most importantly - an attitude that accepts failures. Very often, the fear of failure deters us from doing something that we might truly want to do deep down in our hearts - be it, at buying a new car, starting a business or even something as simple as approaching the opposite sex. But, really, why do we fall every now and then? It is simply because with every fall we encounter, chances are we will actually learn something from it even if it is a small little piece of knowledge. Knowledge as we know it has no real value, it is priceless and it is even more valuable when we learn to use the knowledge that we have honed throughout our lives. And I believe, it is that very ability to use knowledge, that makes such people so successful! There is a saying after all that, "you don't have to be the smartest guy in the world to be rich!".

Microsoft Windows is famous for it's user-friendliness, iPod is famous for it's cool looks and practicality, or AirAsia is well known for it's fantastic no-frills cheap short range flights. All these ideas, had to come from somewhere, right? And, they all stemmed from knowledge.

Then comes another important similarity - willing to take risks. Then again, taking risks is something one should consider with due diligence. This pretty much, goes back to the question of whether one is willing to accept failures. However, it is of importance to note that only valuable lessons can be learned through 'smart' failures. Meaning to say, one takes a risk in starting say, a business upon considering relevant factors, and then fails; but he would still be able to learn from the failure (i.e. something he might have missed taking into consideration?), as compared to taking a risk forming a business without understanding what one is doing!

By and large, most of us out there are on an employment earning a monthly paycheck. Reason why I wrote this tonight, simply because I think it is about time, our generation started thinking of getting out of our comfort zone of, "I am happy with a monthly paycheck and I am pretty sure my employment is secured as long as I don't make a mess with my job at hand.".

Let's all think about making a difference; after all, there is a Chinese saying that goes like this - "there is no end to earning money!".

Think about it? You might just get inspired! ;)

Anime - CLAYMORE

CLAYMORE - It's the new show I have been watching lately. It probably comes under the genre of fantasy, adventure and drama.

In this story, the world people live in is lurking with man-eating creatures called 'Yoma'. Because of their fearsome and uncontrollable lust for human blood, Claymores are called in to exterminate these Yomas. Claymores are half-Yoma, half-human women - according to the story, men cannot become Claymores because they would succumb to the immense power of the half-Yoma in them too easily.

This show talks about a Claymore named Claire (the girl in the picture), who chose to become a Claymore at a young age. When she was still a little girl, she was saved by the strongest Claymore at that time, Theresa. At that point, Claire decided to follow Theresa on her journey to exterminate Yomas. Ironically Claire did not choose to follow Theresa because Theresa saved her, but rather she saw a great deal of sadness and loneliness in Theresa. Well, Claire was a victim of torture and harassment of a Yoma, and she was often and outcast since no one ever wanted to go close to her as many felt she may one day turn into a Yoma after being tortured by a Yoma.

Although, Theresa's background was not detailed in the show, it is highly likely Theresa shared a similar background like Claire, hence their speecial bond. However, as a Claymore, one iron rule exists - never to kill a human. At one point, Theresa did kill a group of bandits in order to save Claire. Even though, we all see the good in what she did to save Claire, Claymores ignore such rationale and abide to the iron rule. Therefore, Theresa had to be killed for breaking the rule. Theresa then became a wanted person by the society of Claymores. Eventually, Theresa did get assassinated by another Claymore which turned into a full fledged Yoma when she over-used her powers in her efforts to kill Theresa.

Thing about Claymores is that, every time they use the half-Yoma power in them, they have to use a great deal of mental strength to ensure that they are not taken over by the Yoma in them completely. The Claymore that killed Theresa, named Priscilla eventually succumbed to the Yoma in her after expending too much Yoma power in trying to kill Theresa. She did indeed succeed in killing Theresa, and Claire witnessed the whole ordeal. That was when Claire decided to become a Claymore, not to exterminate Yomas but for the sole purpose of avenging Theresa, the only person who ever really accepted who she was, and really cared for her.

Not surprisingly, Claire follows the foot steps of Theresa, picking up a boy named Raki. From there, their journey together in search of Priscilla begins.

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It is currently an ongoing anime, and I highly recommend it!

Verdict:
Artwork: 8/10
Story line:8.5/10
Action:9/10
Cast voices suitability with the characters:8.7/10

Cool studying software for students!

Trying to work and study definitely is not easy, unless you have really good time management. But let's face it, no one is perfect, therefore virtually none of us can really stick perfectly to our schedules (I am sure you know what I mean). For those wondering how it feels like to be working and trying to study at the same time - it is really tough.

My experience:
I am sure at least 95% of us have heard of ACCA from someone or somewhere. For those who do not know what ACCA is, it stands for the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. I won't go into the details of what it is and all the jargon about it - but let's just say with that qualification, it will boost my value in the job market!

Anyway, back to my experience. It is tough, definitely tough! I am not really experienced at my job but I have been doing it for close to nine months now. The last round of exams was not easy at all. There is not much room for play when I am already spending most of time working, and if there is any spare time that I get, I channel it for reading or at least browsing through my notes.

So how do I study? It is a relatively simple method. With classes, I get notes and studying aids, and I just study those notes and aids. However, before I rely on the notes I make sure those notes are sufficient to give me the foundation for my understanding. With the lack of time, time is of the essence. So, once I am sure the notes are sufficient, I read those notes but I do not by any means read it deeply. Instead, I set a cut-off point to stop reading, and then I start reading at a quick pace right up to the cut-off point. Once I am done, I just keep repeating the same process. How effective is it for others? I really would not know. But here's my rationale for adopting such a method - I have to be practical because I simply do not have the luxury of time unlike a full time student that goes to class from 9am to 4pm and have the whole time after 4pm to do virtually anything I want. With work, I'd be thanking my lucky stars if I get to reach home by 9pm everyday! Let's say I do get home by 9pm; I wipe my car, bathe and it will probably be like 10pm to 10:30pm by the time I settle down. Let's say I set 12 midnight as my bedtime, assuming I am ready to open my notes at 10pm - I have about 2 hours to read up. But let's face it - if I am going read the notes deeply, I wouldn't get very far within 2 hours or worse, I end up falling a sleep! Some of you may argue, I would not understand what I am reading if I go at it at a quick pace. Realities of life says otherwise - I start work at 8:30am and end at 8:30pm (to get home by 9pm that is), which would mean I have had a good 12 hours of work. That in itself would have placed enough stress on my brain. So do you honestly think, any reasonable person would still have enough awareness to take the time to slowly read and try to absorb the facts? I am pretty sure the answer is "no" for most of us.

Hence, the speed-read method. After all, more often than not, by achieving efficiency, effectiveness tends to follow suit.
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With my dire need to get better results, and with the expected demand for studies and work to multiply; I found something really helpful! That help comes from this software that assists us in creating a useful and communicative mind map - Recall Plus. For those who want a better narration visit: http://www.recallplus.com/

For those you want to download the software please click HERE.

I thought it would be worth sharing since it may well be useful even for full time students. But for those working and studying, I highly recommend it. Have fun trying it out!

Finally..............

Finally my long overdue mix is ready for its release. With the current off peak season at work, and my classes yet to resume, I took full advantage in using the time to work on the mix. The mix is done, just need to convert it to the appropriate format and work on the CD covers and I will release it on my project's homepage - http://project-mickamix.blogspot.com/

If you do listen to it, and feel there are room for improvements, do give me some feedback and I will work to improve my mixing skills! ;)

Fantastic 4 - Rise of Silver Surfer

It was a Saturday night, and I wanted to catch a movie. Surprisingly, I wasn't exactly planning on watching Fantastic 4 since I felt it was going to be impossible to get good seats or even get any tickets for the matter. So my girlfriend and I were actually planning to catch Pirates of the Caribbean ("Pirates") since we didn't get the chance to watch it earlier with my work and studies getting in the way.

So this how we ended up watching Fantastic 4:

We were happily eager to watch Pirates and driving to One Utama. On the way there, we both saw a pretty bad jam to get in. So I thought let's not waste time and head up into The Curve ("Curve") - generally the Curve has more available spots for movies, probably because less people go there due to the distance. Anyway, we got to the Curve, found a beautiful parking lot for my car (I love corner parking lots - keeps my car save from inconsiderate people that open their car doors without minding what's beside). I was quite happy and we got the cinema, and we realised they were no longer showing Pirates!

No more Pirates, so last resort - back to One Utama. This time, no traffic crawl on the outside but when we got in, we were in the parking lot searching for a spot for 45 minutes. We were literally hunting down an empty space.

Finally settling down for a relatively good spot, we went in to get tickets for Pirates. I was really confident on getting the tickets considering the show's been on for a pretty long time. Then came another bomb shell - no tickets until the late shows that start around 11:30pm. Fine! We headed off to another cinema in One Utama, and came another bomb shell - tickets left only for the first two rows from the screen. Tired of queueing up and all the disappointments, we settled for Fantastic 4.

At first, I wasn't expecting much from the show since the first one wasn't too good. But I was dead wrong! The show was really fantastic! The cast did well to replicated the characters like the comic. And Silver Surfer - he was really cool and they did well to be true as possible. Reed was as scientific as ever, Sue was really good looking and well suited for the character (Jessica Alba!!! What do you think???), Johnny as cheeky and always on to girls, and the Thing as strong as in the comic. This installation saw more action and the writers did well to amalgamate the mix of action, drama and love (Spidey was too much on the soft side). Scripts writers got the dialogue very fluid and more natural.

All I can say, is well done! This show was definitely unlike the blunder of Spiderman 3.

If I were to rate the show, I'd give it a good 8.9 out of 10!

Fed Ex your documents??

At the client's place today, had heaps to do and it did not turn out easy. Most of us will probably be thinking the client was difficult to work with. On the contrary, they are pretty nice people around the office - definitely a ++ point! Buuuuutttt........... trying to get documents is a big hassle. I am talking about MASSIVE hassle here. Apparently, their main office is in Singapore so they decided to ship all the documents up into Malaysia. And I mean they really couriered all their documents in 30kg boxes - using FedEx!

In short, I pretty much spent at least, at least three quarter of the day digging into boxes in search of those documents so important to my job (in case you don't know, auditing requires heaps of documentation!).

--------talk about work stops here before I bore you further------- Good night!

Back at work after 4 weeks of study leave and exams....... how does it feel?

Back to work today after all the crash studying and exam papers! Therefore, the most common question would probably be how did it feel to be back to work? Feeling was somewhat nostalgic, but worst of all - it was definitely a cold start for an engine not running for the past four weeks.

Thank God, today wasn't that busy so I had some time to warm up my engine. Tomorrow I'll be starting off in a new client under a different senior. This can only mean one thing - another opportunity to learn more things! That is always a good thing. And the firm replaced my laptop with a brand new one too, and it's a Dell Latitude! Cool eh (wish you had a job like mine eh)? hehehehehe....... the firm gave the whole set (i.e. bag, power supply, thumb drive, etc...)

All in all I cannot call it a bad day since I am back home earlier than usual, and actually have the time to work on my mix (which in case you didn't know, has been long overdue). Definitely made some progress with the mix, since I am working on it with a clearer mind and a less pressured brain. What more can one ask for when working on music?

Forget everything else, the most pressing issue lies right in front of my very eyes! For those used to studying and pressure cooking yourself before an exam, you should know this well enough. It is none other than the aftermath of books and notes piled up on my table and everywhere else in the room. Here are some photos of the mess, or should I call it natural work of art? :)

The aftermath, as you can see is on the floor, table and even some chairs around me. Goes to show how hard I was studying throughout the four weeks (or pretending to be studying?). No matter how hard my mind is telling me to clean it up, I am just going to defer it for the weekend. I am just way to buggered to clear the mess now..................

Final words of wisdom~

Alright, alright, not exactly final words of wisdom but just some final words before the final paper for this sitting.

Many thanks to those who supported me and in some ways or the other gave me a few kind words. Thanks of course to Cindy (casual reminders telling me to slow down), Alan for the notes (the ones I self studied), thanks to Jasmine (for the law textbooks), hamster for the prayers, my lecturers - Ms. Kiran (audit) and Mr. Simon (tax), and Max. Of course not forgetting my parents, and my girlfriend. For those I had not mentioned, you were not forgotten and I will always be grateful for the support you have given me directly, or in directly.

I don't really know what the outcome will be for tomorrow's paper but I intend to go in there feeling as comfortable as possible. I feel quite clam right now and I hope I will feel the same tomorrow. Throughout these past four weeks I have gone through a lot - emotional, mental and spiritual challenges, and I truly believe it is something I can carry with me into the future. After all, such experiences can only make one stronger. How much stronger have I gotten since four weeks ago? I can't really tell, but I am sure there is a difference now if I were to compare myself now and four weeks ago.

Just a short prayer:

"Father above, it has been a challenging experience going through the past four weeks and I believe it is something you have planned for me from the start. It may not have been pleasant but it may not have been bad after all. Although I am not sure myself, but I think even if it is only a bit, I believe I have learned a lot about myself these past four weeks. Tomorrow, will be my last paper for this sitting and it is an exam I personally want to do well. You have proven to me time and again, anything done without Your finishing touch can never truly experience success. Therefore, here I am looking to You for Your support and Your hand to hold mine and walk me through my exam. Keep me calm, collected and mind fresh with what I have already studied. With You, all is good for You are good! Let this prayer extend to my friends who are also taking other exam papers tomorrow namely - Alan and Hamster. In Jesus name, Amen."

One more paper left..... for this sitting at least.

One more paper left. My thoughts on it? To me, this paper matters the most among the others especially since I am in the audit line. And, it is also proof that I am to some extent knowledgeable of my own job. In addition, what I learn can be applied to my job practically even if it's not 100% usable - a bit is better than nothing rite? Most importantly, no matter what I do I have to make sure I am on track to reaching my goal. Nothing is more important than being able to achieve my goals in life. After all, life without a goal cannot really be called a life. Right? That's how I view life, at least :)

Anyway, back to my last paper. Preparation seems to be fine (it's pretty hard to gauge) and I feel like I am ready for it. I have tomorrow to prepare still, and I have every intention to make full use of the day to make sure I am fully loaded for the exam day. Besides, I am on the assumption the paper is going to be tough since the last sitting was considered less difficult. Geez....

Nice artwork to share! :)

In light of the upcoming Transformers movie, I am going to share this cool artwork I found. For your information, this picture was completely done up on a computer on Photoshop! Transformers all the way!!!!!

Oh yea, source of this picture - http://www.animepaper.net this place is a massive database full of anime artwork.

‘Here lies a man in a hurry’ by Tengku Zafrul Aziz

Browsing through the net a couple of days ago, I stumbled upon a really interesting article and I really think it is worth sharing.

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The article:

WHEN I was young (I mean younger, after all, I’m still young!), I remember taking it for granted that my parents would be back from work by 5.30pm. I got to see a lot of them because, although they both held regular jobs, they were also back for lunch every day. It was something so simple that I never even thought about it. Today, many of us don’t even have the chance to see our children before they go to bed and sometimes, even over weekends. What used to be family time is now taken up with work, meetings, after-work networking and weekend games of squash and futsal with business associates. You know how it goes. And remember the whole concept of extended family? When I was growing up, all my uncles and aunts, to say nothing of cousins, were very much a part of my life. Now I hardly see them, except for major celebrations. With my frenetic schedule, any time I have is for immediate family and close friends. In fact, the people I see most now are my colleagues. I sometimes stop and wonder about the trade-off. When did work take precedence over life? In fact, when did work become life? Isn’t it ironic that we make so much more today, more than our parents could probably have dreamed of, but have so much less? We live longer but our days are filled with petty matters — meetings about meetings, reports about reports, things that eat up time but don’t really go anywhere or accomplish anything. How did it come to this? I was sitting with a few of my close friends the other day and discussing life at warp speed. One of them asked whether things were the way they were because we had no choice or because this is the way we wanted it to be. And I wondered. In today’s working environment, it is not enough to do a good job from 9 to 5. You have to contend with employer expectations and peer pressure. You have to exercise a constant vigilance: You never know who will stab your back, undermine your position or steal your job when you’re not looking. There was one school of thought among my mover and shaker friends who maintained we do have a choice. After all, we were all doing this because there was so much we wanted to achieve and there was so little time to do it all. We were racing against time, so to speak. There were others who thought that we keep this crazy pace because we felt compelled to. There were bills to pay, Joneses to keep up with and beautiful girls to impress. They are running to remain where they are, getting nowhere fast. Funny thing is, while one option may seem more attractive than the other, they’re both the same. In either case, you cannot leave your office at 5 (and even if you were crazy enough to do, you’d probably be stuck in a traffic jam anyway). You don’t get to hang out with your kids. And as for extended family, what’s that again? There are all kinds of slavery and time slavery is probably one of the most insidious, mainly because you’re not even aware of it. But one day, your kid is ready to go off to Harvard (you told yourself you were working so hard to afford the tuition) and you realise that this attractive young woman who looks a little like you is practically a stranger. No, I’m not suggesting you quit your job. Apart from everything else, that would be idiotic. After a while, you’ll get bored, depressed, out of it and then you’ll be counting your sen to see if you can even afford a pirated DVD. Not an attractive prospect. Besides, where’s the satisfaction in that? The real solution seems to be striking out on your own. After all, we Malaysians are encouraged to be entrepreneurs, to sell our services to fools who are willing to pay us premium prices. Maybe this is why we’re seeing more and more young professionals turn to freelancing. They want control of their time and destiny. They are sick of corporate politics and the energy it takes to survive in the corporate jungle. Some of my friends have left the dog-eat-dog world of investment banking to set up their own boutique investment advisories. They tell me that stress levels have dropped considerably because they are no longer dealing with unreasonably demanding clients and get to pick and choose their jobs. I sometimes see them having coffee at Starbucks when I’m rushing off for a meeting. In case you didn’t know, I’m one of the poor sods still climbing up the food chain. I also have friends in the media who left their respective newspapers or magazines to be on their own. Some write speeches for very important people and succeed in making them sound intelligent. Others write articles for a variety of newspapers and magazines. (If you’re a good writer, your work is always in demand.) And some offer freelance PR services to companies who haven’t got a clue about how to deal with the media. And then we have the freelance photographers, eBay entrepreneurs, you name it. They gave up a regular pay cheque and reclaimed their time — for family, for sport, creative hobbies and, most importantly, themselves.So maybe you should ask yourself what you really want. Are you happy? Is your life fulfilling? Is this what you imagined for yourself when you were watching Knight Rider all those years ago? Whatever they’ve brainwashed you into thinking, you do have a choice. It’s never too late.If you think you don’t know what you really want (and I’m not talking material stuff here), it’s only because you have never taken the trouble to find out. Do so! Learn to recognise where your actual strengths are, what makes you happy and move in that general direction. Believe me; you don’t want to keep running to get nowhere.

After all, who wants a gravestone that reads:"Here lies a man in a hurry. He had to leave early."

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It's 1:53am and I can't seem to fall asleep....... @_@

I keep yawning, yawning and yawning but I can't seem to fall asleep. I am pretty sure I am not worrying about anything but it's just probably one of those days when your body decides not to sleep for no apparent reason. So here I am trying to find some away to make myself fall asleep - by blogging!
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Luckily besides my inventory of trance mixes, I have some jpop to fall back on. Currently I listening to a pretty recent jpop artist - Miliyah Kato (for those interest, check out her official website http://www.miliyah.com/). Pretty good vocals and soothing songs. Generally on the R&B genre if I am not mistaken. I am surprise she's got a good voice at only 18 years of age. Impressive! I am actually in the midst of acquiring her discography, so if anyone wants it feel free to leave a comment and I'll see what I can do to share it with you! ;)
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It's drizzling and a cool breeze blow through my room window. Feels really refreshing..... but with rain, it tends to bring about an air of melancholy. I guess it's the sound of the rain drops hitting the roof, or probably the smell. Maybe it's God's tears, watching over us and seeing the countless sadness of those leaving in less fortunate conditions. Spare some time in your lives to pray for these people....

Three down, one more to go!

Alright! Had the third paper this afternoon - Business Tax. Verdict? Alright, have you ever been to a holiday and just when you leave your hotel room and despite the fact that you have packed up everything and checked everything on your checklist, you still feel as if you missed out something? Well, that's the sort of feeling I have right now on the paper. It's like this - the paper felt a little bit easier than I expected, so I am not too sure if there was a catch in the questions which I felt was easy. But all in all, I have got this comfortable feeling about it so I think I should be able to pass it.

One more paper in five days time! I guess, this is to some extent the most important paper - audit. After all, I am in the audit line so I would really love to do better for this paper. :) And due to the fact that the I have been doing quite well in all the tests for this paper. I kind of look forward to this paper, and hope to see if all my efforts so far has paid off!

Two down, two more to go!

Well, well, well, had my second paper today - Corporate and Business Law. Verdict? So you want me to give an optimistic opinion or a down right honest answer? Optimistic answer - I think I have got a 50, 50 chance of passing. A down right honest answer - I had a tough time with the question paper, and I think I might fail it.

I did attempt all the questions but, I don't really know if what I threw in for answers were relevant to helping me get marks. The passing mark 50 percent but even at times like this 50 marks can be a huge pain to achieve. Anyway, the paper is done with and that's all I have to say about it. Focus is on tomorrow's tax paper.

Just a short prayer:
"Father God, thank You for holding my hand keeping me calm throughout the paper even though it was potentially a disaster. Somehow, You kept me focused on the paper and just let me write something on the answer script. Tomorrow is another paper for me, and I hope to do it well as the firm is paying it for me. Like before, I am going to rely on You completely and wholly. I am weak and I am nothing without the power of Your grace. Heavenly Father, keep me cool and collected, and let You lead me to victory against tomorrow's paper! In Jesus name, Amen".

One paper done, three more to go!

Today was an examination for Information Systems. Verdict? Erm, I don't know how well I will fair but I could answer the questions (at least that's what I think). So in terms of passing the paper, I think I stand quite a strong chance of passing. Thank God! Also thanks to the many that prayed for me - Darren, Alan, Max, Cheryl and Zo, Hamster, Mcee. For those I did not mention, thank you very much you have not been forgotten. Of course, my girlfriend for her support! ;)

Tomorrow's paper will most certainly be a challenge. It's Business and Corporate Law. Once again, I am not going to make any predictions on how it is going to turn out but I am going to try hard to pull through this paper. It is scary, since this is another paper I self-studied from start to finish. I have absolutely no idea whether what I studied is correct or wrong, and it is probably too late to find out anyway. So I am going to just try to walk into the hall feeling comfortable and composed at the very least (like my squash coach used to say, "even you don't stand a chance against your opponent, at least potray that you can!".

Once again, another prayer for tomorrow:
"Father God, I thank You for today's first paper. You indeed held my hand all the way through the paper. You allowed me to rely on You, and I am really happy for that Father God. Heavenly Father, tomorrow will also be another paper I self-studied, Business and Corporate Law. In terms of confidence level, I am a bit shaky but I know I will be fine as long as I hold Your hand and just walk along with You. Let me not worry about the paper but let me focus on my efforts. Take my mind off the results but place my mind in Your grace. The only way for me to go through this is, with You and only You. Father God, let Your grace be upon Alan and Jia Yee who are also taking other papers. Thank You, Heavenly Father...... in Jesus name, Amen."

One more day!

One more day till my first exam paper. Pretty scary feeling to it, I mean it'll be the first time in my life I am going to sit for an exam I completely self studied from start to finish. So it'll kind of show my fruits of labour..... I hope. :P

Although I was feeling a lot more stressed up yesterday, I feel better today probably because I had some assurance from some of my friends last night at dinner. I don't think I want to make any predictions on how it is going to turn or anything like that but I hope to just walk into the exam hall feeling comfortable about it. The past couple of days I have been worried about whether I am prepared or not, and stuff like that but today I am going to try put all that away because I isn't helping in anyway. Worse still, I think it demotivates me! @_@

One more day, I am going to make this prayer:

"Father God above, let me hold your hand and let You take me into the exam hall with calmness. As you hold my hand, while I am doing the exam paper let me rely on your strength to remember the things I have read and studied. It's true I may not be smart and good at understanding things. But heavenly Father, with You beside me I believe You can make things happen. I can't make things happen, but it is with You that I can make things happen and become someone. Till now, it has been great knowing that You have always been with me, and You still continue to be with me despite all my shortfalls. Thank You father God, thank You. In Jesus's name, AMEN"

Two more days before my first paper.

It is 3 minutes before hitting 12am, Saturday which is also the 2nd of June 2007. Which means to say, I have effectively two more days left before my first paper on the 4th of June 2007.

So what's the feeling like? I don't know! Since the first two papers will be the exams for the subjects I self-studied I am pretty anxious and a little bit of fearing the unknown. You know, things like 'have I read enough?', 'was the text I used sufficient to help me get through?'. I guess I should take this as a learning experience, since not everyone gets to try something like this.

Emotionally, it has been very challenging since all this while since my college days I have always been in control of how things went. Everything I did was well planned and executed as close as possible to the original plan. Succumbing to this situation, things are a lot different in the sense that I have definitely more commitment to shoulder. Coming out into the open world so to speak does not allow for plans to be executed well. Variables are always around, and it is simply impossible to have things controlled easily. Unlike the college days, most of everything were quite straight forward. So having to self study has put me in a position whereby I have to really rely on what I can understand from what I have only (which are some textbooks I borrowed from some colleagues and friends). Going to class is different materially - because the lecturer is always there to guide me. Essentially the text books are the same but with a lecturer there is always some form of comfort knowing that when I hit a brick wall, there is someone to pull me aside just before I walk right into it. Self-studying on the other hand, I have to keep hitting the brick wall until it sinks into my head (at least, that's how it has been for me so far).


Mentally, it is tiring - very tiring! Having two subjects along with work is in itself not easy. At work, I am already being bombarded with work issues - dealing with clients, tasks at hand, some times technical issues. And I get back more often than not buggered and already tired. Then I try to put in some studying (which really ends up as just seeing rather than reading the text). Honestly, I tried to constantly just read a bit here and there while I was working, but it hasn't been that effective probably because of the exhaustion. This experience so far has really stretched me.


Most importantly, deep down in me I hate failures and I don't want to see myself failing. That's probably why I am under so much pressure. But, sometimes in life, it is through failures that we pick ourselves up and become stronger.......