Thru The Eyes of An Architect

Putrajaya…..a mammoth and iconic project to all Malaysians. Our capital administration. So how long does it take to conceptualize such a massive project? 10 MINUTES! Yes, only 10 minutes. Only those with the most brilliant of minds and vision can do this.

I count it a blessing to personally know this man and also be considered a friend to him. It’s none other than Kun Lim. He is much sought after all over the world and of course, his works are all over the world.

As Kun Lim is much sought after and with limited time, he cannot be here in Malaysia too often (by the way, he officially resides in Seattle, USA). But my heartfelt appreciation to him that we try to meet each time he returns home (KL).

This evening, Kun Lim is in PKT Logisics, one of his awesome creations. Is a private evening together with Senator Chong Sin Woon and few other amazing individuals, including Dato Michael Tio, CEO of PKT Logistics Group (our adopted boss….hehe…that’s another amazing story)

The most precious time with brilliant individuals is listening to them – understanding their thoughts, their motivations. In my opinion, brilliant individuals are…

• They see everything with clarity
• They are humble
• Excellent EQ
• Generous in sharing

The best thing to do in the presence of brilliant talents is to “LISTEN” or “ASK questions”.

Kun Lim, welcome home for this 2 weeks and it’s always great to see you.

Photobombed by Captain DMT. LOL

Blessed to know and being friends with a truly exceptional man

In the presence of such brilliance….only thing to do is LISTEN and ASK 😀

UN-Friendly

We have been described in a variety of ways….

1. Quiet
2. Conservative
3. Sociable
4. Unsociable
5. Proud
6. Easy going
7. Etc etc etc

Kinda confusing right? Seems to be a mix of compliments and critics. Well, some are right and some aren’t. Here’s why…

We are a sucker (in good sense) for good characters. We are sociable but not socialites. For friends, we pick quality over quantity. We are fiercely loyal to friendship but we don’t make friends essily too. Being in the marketplace long enough, it no longer surprises us that supposedly close friends are badmouthing each other. So are they friends or FRIENDS? We are absolute real people, thus we expect real friends too. 

It is our very nature to stay away, almost being allergic to the following groups of people…

1. Fakes
2. Show offs
3. Gossipers
4. Questionable characters (e.g. Integrity deficiency)
5. Egoistic

We have many many many acquaintances in our lives but few friends. Then again it has always been our choice to have few friends than many fake friends. Would love to expand our current group of real friends but they don’t come in truckloads. So, as we pray for real friends, we shall be patient and wait for them to turn up.
Meanwhile, we love our real friends….and acquaintances too.  Perhaps in due time, some of them will grow to become real friends 😀

DIWALI Celebration with the Valirams

Friday evening coupled with rain is always a challenge to travel anywhere. Today after accompanying wifey to her press interview (this is another story), we had to drive thru massive jam to get to an amazing early DIWALI celebration hosted by the Valirams.

Was it worth the stress of travelling the massive jam? Absolutely. The Valirams definitely hosted one of the best celebrations in town. The who’s who all turned up. We were not only blessed by the celebration but also had the opportunity to connect with friends.

Food was aplenty with good flavors and variety. The experience and celebration is definitely one to remember. We salute the Valirams for their generosity and hospitality. We wish the Valiram family the happiest and most blessed of Deepavali celebrations!

My friend, you must not be better than me

What are your terms & conditions for you to remain as friends  with someone? With the scenario below, will you still want to be friends with them?

• They are more intelligent than you
• They are financially better than you
• They are more enterprising than you (or)
• They do not engage in time wasting activities like you

Or are you the type of person that is only a friend as long as he/she is not better than you.

Sad to say, my comments and observation comes not only from people’s friends but also some of my personal experience. I have lost quite a number of friends over the years. Once you begin to progress ahead of them, somehow, jealousy, envy, dissatisfaction, etc. creeps in. It is reflected in their attitude towards you. Activities and communication of all sorts begin to decrease. Slowly but surely you’re made an outcast. The person is not only behaving negatively towards you but also influencing the other friends to do likewise. Even in a normal conversation, they’re consistently directly/indirectly launching a verbal attack on you.

Of course in terms of activities, we all have our likes and dislikes. Some people’s “Likes” may be “vices” to others. So why force people to follow and if they don’t – Judge them?

It is sad. Sad that people only want to remain as friends if you’re in a worse situation than them. Call it insecurity, attention deprived, etc – such an attitude is simply unjustifiable.

So what do we do? Sit and sulk? Get depressed? Not worth it I say. Why waste time and energy sulking or be unhappy over such shallow people? True friends will motivate and encourage you and want to see you do well in life. So when the true colors of so-called “friends” surface, then it is time to cut the “baggage” and go look for new friends.

Personally I have a larger circle of friends now. Some are in a better situation then I am while some are catching up. Similarity we all share is that we motivate and encourage each other. We accept each other’s differences. Our actions and words are such that no man gets left behind. We will reach the top together, some a little earlier, some a little later but eventually all will reach the top.

Don’t feel that you’re compelled to stick and comply to a particular group of friends for life. Only friends who desire to see you do well are
TRUE friends. Likewise we to must be a TRUE friend.

Chinese New Year antics

NickG is back! Yeah, it’s been a hot, hectic and “full” Chinese New Year.

Chinese New Year is about families coming together. Unofficially, it is also about food (loads of it),  money (from spending to prepare for CNY to giving or receiving of angpau) and of course the regular hot weather.

I have eaten my fair share of food. Whichever meal it is, it is definitely abundance of food for every meal. I too weigh myself every other day and as expected, have increased in weight (but only a little *whew*).  At least my weighing machine did not run away from me nor did my bed break :p 

We had relatives who returned to Malaysia during this CNY and were they impressed (actually they were shocked) by the amount of food eaten. According to them, one could easily misunderstand that CNY is only about eating and nothing else. One other comment that tickled my funny bone was that with all the eating, it is a surprise that there are still so many slim people around. hahahaha….

Are you the giver or receiver?

Angpau……contributes to make our bank accounts lighter for those who give and heavier for those who receive. Once upon a time I belonged to the group that was “collecting”. It was fun and something to look forward to. Angpau was definitely a motivating factor to go visiting. Of course uncles/aunties who give more are the favourites.

Is this the trend of the future?

Unfortunately I am no longer eligible to receive. *sigh*.  It is better to give than receive right? Good way to comfort oneself 🙂

Perhaps what we need is some creative ways to disburse the angpau. Those who receive will appreciate it more and those who give will be spared the “suffering”?

Whatever it is, Chinese New Year is always a joyful time. So no matter it is about food, angpau, families, friends, etc., it is a blessed time.

Friends Here, There & Everywhere

Isn't this true?

 

As at 11.40pm, 15 November 2010, my facebook account shows that I have 969 friends. Are all these people my friends to begin with? You better not believe me if I said they are.

I cannot help but ask myself why is it that I have so many people in my list. A majority of them I know them only via FB. What is my TRUE motive of having so many “friends”?

I am aware that some people is of the opinion that they are supposedly popular because they have a loooooong list. Am I one of them? I’ve been thinking about this for some time and am absolutely pleased to conclude that I am not.

I do not want to have a long list of people in my friends list just for showing off. I want REAL FRIENDS. Thus far, from the few people I have had the privilege of meeting, they are wonderful individuals. They too are not looking for “victims” or seeking popularity.

I’ve never had many friends. If ever I am blessed to have many many friends, I will be more than delighted. After all, one can never complain of having too many friends right? Won’t it be nice to have friends wherever we go and especially as we grow older? It will be miserable to grow old without friends.

There are many types of friends. Friends by name, true friends, etc. I believe true friends are as graphically depicted below:

Definition of Friend

What kind of friend will we be? Only time will tell… Meanwhile, why worry.

So if anyone of you are reading this and you are in my friends’ list, please remember that you are more than a number, more than a name, more than a person – I consider you a friend. I may not have the privilege to know you in person yet but you are a friend nonetheless.