Blog Wanderer

Decided to list out some of the blog I visit on the sidebar.

The following are really popular sites, and we are talking hot! They have comments in the hundreds, and for good reasons too.

Try reading The Datin Diaries, boy this girl can write! I hope she publishes a book one day, it would be a joy to read. However, as a buddy of mine mentioned, one’s writing style is as good as a signature, so if ever she actually launches a book, I am sure it would have that vague resemblance and may let the cat out of the bag. Now would that be hilarious, but if I was her I would be proud. Such a simple site, no graphics and yet it has all the right ingredients right there – in the words.

Then there is Afdlin Shauki, this guy is much funnier on his blog then he is in real life. Definitely a must read. Insightful yet has an after taste that lingers with some humor and sarcastic appeal.

How about Yasmin Ahmad with The Storyteller? This is one of the few sites that has depth beyond words alone. The twist of the language, the way she makes the words dance in a pleasant meaningful manner is way beyond my league.

I am always on the search for a good read (hook me up if you have any!).

Blogging seems to quench this thirst in a manner that doesn’t involve me walking up and down the aisle looking for a good book in MPH. Well, still have to do that sometimes, it’s usually a great way to meet babe with brains!

The other sites are some that gets updated pretty often and are more personal in nature. Wouldn’t want to say much, as most of them are anonymous and I would let you be the judge. As for permission to link sites? I was wondering about this, should I ask before I link? Well, if you don’t like it, just drop me a line and I will take your link out of my blog, else all is fair.

Now, back to get caught up on the good Datin…

Cheers.

Soul Independence

If hell is on earth, I must be in it right now. The last two weeks have been ghastly! Had fires burning on all fronts.

Anyway, such is life. It is interesting that the journey to actualization is plague with experiences one would much rather avoid, but makes those who goes through it a better and stronger person – much like that jab we got in school (yikes!). The tender I was responding to got slightly delayed and is now closing on the 5th of September, rather then today. The folks building the response is obviously just surviving on streams of caffeine. Cranky I tell ya!

Well that is just on one front. As far as relationship goes, having work-life unbalance has its dues, and lets just say that I am very much like a “long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs” right now. Very careful with what I say or do, as it has reverberated wrongly way too many times the last few days.

Golf? Well, the game in Tasik Putri GCC just went to hell too! Played a 90, albeit with two pars and one birdie. Lost badly, didn’t know these government folks are really into their game. From a relationship building perspective though, I believe we got the job done.

All in all, I really wish I could fast forward time, and move into October perhaps. I foresee September as another crappy long drawn month, though my birthday this month would be a good wake-up call. One year older, but wiser? I don’t know, if I have learned anything at all, throughout my time here on earth, it is to trust your instincts. Our moral compass, no matter how dysfunctional it is, is all we have. That makes you the person you really are, some will like you for it, and others may not, but at least they know what they are getting. A hypocrite may last a hand, but never the whole game. Over time, and believe you me, people have really long memories, your true colors will surface and this is when fair weathered friends and your true mates come to light.

When all is fair, the woes of friendship is forgotten and forgiven, yet remembered when tribulations descend.

Melancholy I may be, but alive I am still.

Cheers.

By the Bayou in Mont Kiara

Bayou a cool joint one should try. Had Balinese Beef, and definitely recommended. Strictly food, as there isn't much else to do, but a good place for dinner before a night out, if at all. Well, anyway its almost Merdeka, and it's not one that I would like to remember for way too many of the wrong reasons.

Any hoots "Merdeka to All", and may independence be in Mind, Body, and Soul.

Cheers.

What women want?

I have been thinking.

Now, not that it is a good thing necessarily, but I do it sometimes (“think” that is). This question I have posed to quite a few women, some young, and well… some experienced. To date, I have not been told that I am wrong. At all! So now, that I have enough confidence to write about it, lets hear what you think?

It seems, either I have struck gold, or just reached a conclusion so obvious that no one really has a good argument against it. Let me begin this way, when was the last time you saw a really hot babe walking with a guy that’s… hmmm you know what I mean (In case you don’t then stop reading now! This entry isn’t going anywhere you would appreciate anyway). We all have seen this.

So begins the search.

I am an experimenting kind of fella. I shall try almost anything once. So begins my search for the key. I went down the obvious paths, Money? Love perhaps? Well, if all my relationships, and my friends, and anyone that is insane enough to actually carry a conversation with me were to be of any reference, I finally came to a conclusion.

Have you noticed that when you shower a women with love you end being “too suffocating” or too “sensitive”, and simply not give her enough space? How about Money? Then you are “buying” her love, and are using her as a sex object (which is a compliment in my books, I never figured out why this is an insult!), and she is still unhappy. Too much sex? Then you are a maniac, and again I fail to see the problem. How about a good stable relationship, striking just the right balance between love, and affection? Well? Exactly! You are Boring! Now having gone through the full Monty, you should be able to conclude what is it that women want...

What they DON’T HAVE!

Seriously folks, if I didn’t know any better I wouldn’t believe it myself. Such a conclusion staring me right in the face. It never will be about enough, it never was about quantity! It was about the lack of it. Too rounded and you end up boring, too much of one thing – well you guessed it, you end up an asshole.

So back to my original question, why do hot babes go for the face like it was rear ended by a bus? Because assholes or jerks, or whatever it is that you wanna call it (and I have been called this enough! Thank you girls… I shall have to take it as a compliment) have a natural tendency to give just enough, and take it back just when the women feels secured. Assholes don’t give all the love, they don’t even say it when they mean it, only when they have to!. They give love in measured doses. Same applies to money, gifts, etcetera… If you give too much, then you are too sensitive, too smart, too generous, too easy, too gullible. Get it? Anything that makes it easy, makes it boring and predictable. And for women, this is a sign to get out of the cave and start hunting for a new mate, which may bear a better gene pool different then the one they already possess. It’s biological and natural.

Women? Sorry, just as well as we have an issue keeping our willies where it belongs, nor can you ever be happy with what you have. Good hunting and may we all end up in a little cave somewhere, procreating perhaps?

Cheers.

23 and counting...

Yup! Mind the gap. Two things came to mind as I read the papers today.

First, I had to take 64 and minus 41 - which explains the figure 23. This number I then take out from my age, suffice to say that, if ever, there is a girl in primary school that may one day end up being my wife, as the good Minister did mention "It is Fate"! Well, wonder what fate has in store.

Secondly, I wondered why the front page of the news is plastered with sensationalism (which obviously sells papers), while we just declared that the country's GDP is down to 4.1% growth.

Remember Akedemi Fantasia? That made it to the headlines too! Some kid, whom mark my words would be a has been in a few years time ends up getting national coverage, while the real news about what really is going on in the country ends up in Page 3.

Are we turning to tabloid junkies?

This is actually a good sign. Why you asked? It is a sign of progress. Take a shot at any newspaper from the UK or US. They have a swing between something blowing up or really tabloid type of news (ranging from either an actor or footballer sleeping with whores, or a politician dumb enough to get caught on camera looking like he just slept with a whore). Only a developed country could afford the pleasure of good and bad news. A "developing" country on the other hand has pictures of the President, Prime Minister or King either launching something or shaking hands with dignitaries.

We used to have the same kind of news. Things are different now. The reading public is not impressed with our leaders launching events or shaking hands anymore. That is just Page 3 news. Accidents you asked? Page 10 perhaps. Murders? Used to be news, nowadays? Well, unless you are a public figure, rest in peace.

I take it we have moved on as a country. In a way, I am proud. We are at the same shallow level as other developed nation citizens. Soon, we will forget who is the Minister of what, simply because we don't care, and who remembers the name of the King? Or what state is he from? Irrelevant right.

Well, just remember that complacency breeds ignorance. And this shallow blogger is glad that as we progress, the quest for real knowledge is quenched by mindless busybodies, and now I can stop my subscription for my papers. Just reading good blogs would do as it has more news and don't cost me a cent!

Hopefully, we still publish news about Merdeka?

Cheers.

Of CMT, TSP, SVR, and LPR's

I am amazed how Scott keeps himself on the ball! Feeling somewhat Dilbert’ish right now, and will just have to suck it in. Doing my deep breathing and smiling-to-self exercise, and am sure that I look foolish LOL!

Felicity for you and me

Definitions of felicity:

1. pleasing and appropriate manner or style (especially manner or style of expression)
2. state of well-being characterized by emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy
3. happiness, or rather great happiness, blessedness, blissfulness, appropriately, the joys of heaven
4. prosperity, blessing, enjoyment of good

That is the word I have been looking for. Felicity. Yes, a single word that describes it all. It is a state of mind, a goal, an ambition, and an end in itself.

Being Monday I have spent the entire day running the day's assignment, and with proposals being due, and demands on some new opportunities - it was quite a stretch. However, I got back on-line and started doing my normal blog-walk and bumped into a couple more interesting sites. Just kept myself busy reading, and downloading emails for a while and thought to myself what I would write about.

I searched for an emotion. One that would be all encompassing. If I had to choose one mode to be stuck in gear with for the rest of my life, and happy just didn’t sound like enough. Then it struck me.

Too many of us spend a lifetime trying to fulfill our dreams and ambitions. We all have our wish list and our need to “keep up with the Joneses”. However sometimes the things you want, also means losing something you have. To just make it just a tad more painful, you don’t realize the price you pay, until you get whatever it is that you want, and realize much too late that you have lost what you already have.

Am I being too deep? I hope not.

To cut a long story short, what I mean is that oftentimes we are engrossed in our pursuit of happiness forgetting that life is but a moment, and the moment is now – as you read this next line, as you shut me down and move on to another more interesting site, as you blink! Now is the moment that you truly have. Tomorrow is but a promise, yet unfulfilled. If you are not happy now, maybe it will be too late tomorrow. Whatever it is that burdens us now, there is a soul out there that hurts more.

Yes my friend felicity is not about changing what you have, but about being thankful with it. Too many of us lead a life of comparisons, searching for who is worst off then us, and how we can be better. Yet we forget, that all we have is blessed - as we get to sleep tonight not having to worry about a bomb blowing in our neighborhoods, or about where we have to find shelter and food tomorrow.

As we seek, we must reflect. I hope I remember this, and as I seek to carve my legacy I hope that when I die they will say – “He was always happy with what he had, and generous with all his heart and wealth”.

A bit too deep perhaps? Well, I do hope felicity visits you and me.

Cheers.

What a Game!

Played KLGCC East Course today and shot 84, with 7 pars. For those unfamiliar with the course (or the game), East Course, KLGCC is much easier then most, and is known as a "feel good" course. So if ever you feel that your game is in the "shits", this is where you go! So my score doesn't really mean a lot, but hey - it's still no small fry.

Friday was interesting. Got back at 4.30am (or should I say "crawled back"), and was up and down the roads between Rum Jungle, Passion and what I call the “Expat Alley" - Thai Bar and Beach Club. To be frank, I categorically without hesitation despise "Expat Alley". I think it’s demeaning and sleazy. However, had a couple of expats with me, and felt that it was appropriate. Obviously, the best way to kill boredom, was to indulge – resulting in drinking too much, hic!

Am reading two new books. Mindgym: Wake your Mind Up from TimeWarner, a compiled research of how the mind reacts with its surroundings, along with a lot of questionnaires which I find enlightening. The other book I got is Losing my Virginity an autobiography of Richard Branson. I have always found Branson to be the kind of person that deserves every single achievement he has. I look forward to reading about him.

Otherwise, will be having a heavy week ahead and am looking forward to it.

I have also set up my email in the profile section (took a bit longer then I thought, and finally went with hotmail) so most of what I need for the blog is done.

Cheers.

Excuse me. Are you a Model?

Friday at last!

Been a long week, but as I was mentioning to a buddy this morning, ever since I have a blog, the week doesn't seem to just blow away. Instead, because I take some time out to reflect, I have a better sense of time. In essence blogging gives me the comma and full stops within the week. Am taking some time out now, just to insert this quick blog, and hopefully could wrap everything up within the next two hours. After that? Parteeee!!!

Since it is Friday, and I feel like I have earned my time out tonight, it struck me - do women actually ever fall for lines? Seriously! I have heard some horrid lines, and none seems to impress anyone, and the chicks that actually paid any attention would have fallen for the hunk even if he muttered gobbledygook anyway!

How about this one?

Boy: It must have hurt?
Girl: Why?
Boy: Falling from heaven!

Are you puking yet? I get goosebumps just writing it - LMAO!

Well ladies. Please tell me if you have heard any lines worth mentioning, otherwise I am sticking to...

Hello, my name is Zed. How are you?

And if you say something nice, I will perhaps ask if I could buy you a drink :-) Okay folks, enjoy your time out tonight, and please don't drink and drive. It's just not worth it.

Cheers.

Unanimously Anonymous

I have given this a lot of thought. To share, or not to share. If I tell my buds about the blog, the cloak over Zed is threaten. It is such a thin veil of secrecy, and yet part of me wants to be heard and shared. Well, the decision is henceforth made. I have "marketed" my blog. I told a few friends to drop by, and tell me what they think. To make it work though, I need some housekeeping rules to keep the freedom of speech I currently enjoy.

This will be posted on the sidebar.








Zed's Housekeeping Notes

As long as we keep to these, it will save me time from erasing comments and fixing tag notes. The way I see it, this is my little corner of the world, and you are my guest. I have my role, and hopefully I do it well. I believe that I am here to:

1. Entertain (phew! tall order)
2. Share my experience (hopefully it helps?)
3. Answer your questions (if I can that is)

In return, I hope that you could;

1. Not reveal my name on the blog
2. Go private if you need to (email, please click on my profile)
3. Not take things too seriously, this is supposed to be fun :-)

Well, that's all I have. I hope you enjoy your stay, and I look forward to your thoughts .

Cheers.

Opinions? Dime a Dozen.

Everyone has it, no one cares about yours, and as soon as someone says it, anyone can say it was theirs!

This is life. We have been conditioned by nature and nurture in our own self preservation interest to ensure that we pick the majority. It is a numbers game. Democracy is not an accident, nor was it invented. It is nature's way of ensuring that the weaker minority is diminished, as we are a social animal and requires a good number to survive as a species.

As Gandhi said "A good leader, figures out where everyone is going, and runs ahead of them". This realization struck me many a times as I speak to management, read about politicians, and listen to movers and shakers in the industry. It is also well noted by Malcolm Gladwell in his book, The Tipping Point. When a trend reach critical mass, it begins to tip, and the rate of growth and acceptance will no longer be linear, but in an overwhelming upwards curve.

We are followers. Why? Because it is safe. Because we want to be accepted. Most importantly, it is because we don't want to be wrong and alienated.

So do leaders lead, or do they listen well and simply repeat your opinions? Got a dime?

Cheers.

I am Pissed!

Angry
Despair
Fucked Up
Incensed
Irate
Outraged
Infuriated
Mad
Annoyed
Irritated
Furious
Livid

Okay, out of words. Just spent the entire day herding cats, or at least that is how it feels. Got a team moving at lightning speed, and changes coming in equally fast. Keeping everyone from getting frustrated, is a job in itself. Bought lunch for everyone at Mariott Putrajaya. Dim Sum at RM 37 per head buffet. Actually pretty good value for money, had more food then I should though.

Things, however are good. It's definitely moving in the right direction, and at this time of day, there are still smiles in the room. This is comforting, as it is still early days. Have a long way to go, and more challenges ahead (Note to Self: Fix the fuse, jumping the gun too much and will lose support along the way). Looking forward to the journey ahead, and wishing that I have a crystal ball sometimes, so I could answer some of these questions that only time and god has solution to.

This blog actually has a rather soothing effect. Being able to put it down, and let it out off my system seems to make me feel better. Well, got to get back to work.

Cheers.

Do bloggers have an exhibitionist streak in them?

I have been going around the blog a bit more nowadays to see what others have to say. Being a newbee blogger myself, amongst these veterans, maybe there is something to learn. I find it interesting that bloggers tend to be a bit of an exhibitionist. Some do try to be anonymous (like me!), yet drops just enough hints that if you follow the bread crumbs you might, just might, know who they are.

Perhaps the thrill of hiding in the shadow keeps them going?

Others, well just goes ahead and share their life - some in an interesting, worth reading manner - while there are those that simply needs help. I have been a regular on a few sites which I find worth reading, and find a common streak amongst them. Most starts with something useful, but sometimes end up having a couple of blog comments equivalent to a "kancil" being run over by a 2 ton lorry. A messy pool of words (not unlike what yours truly is doing right now!). Nonetheless, it really is the true self coming out when you write, and looking back on a blog is much like looking deeper into oneself. This I find interesting.

Is blogging for everyone? Yes.

It has always been the right for us to say what we think, and for others to listen or to shut you up (sometimes this can get quite messy too :-). With blogs we get to write it down for all, and it is no longer the responsibility for the opinioned to shut up, but the reader to move on when they don't like what they read. I like having this control. I get to hear the voices of those that may have been drowned by the extroverts out there in the real world - all at my own leisure and time.

So bloggers are either people with enough confidence to exhibit their life, or just people with nothing better to do - other then to exhibit their opinions on matters that matters to none.

Either way, exhibitionist we are.

Cheers.

A brand new week, and feeling great!

Can you tell the difference between a sunrise and a sunset from a pix? I just realized this as I was looking for the picture, both looks the same. Anyway, I felt that feeling good at the beginning of a week, is very much like watching the sun go up. It has sort of a cleansing feeling to it.

Am blogging on the side here, as we are ramping up the team for the week (Note to Self: Better be nice, or you may have a mutiny in your hands!). Had a pretty full weekend. Dentist on Saturday, and she was kind enough not to drill anything this time around. Just the normal scaling, and cleansing. Really have to quite smoking! Give myself to year end. Golf on Sunday, played 89 with only 3 pars and 1 birdie. Could have been much better, maybe a bit nervous as had a couple of VIPs on the flight and I was partnered with one of them. Time to get over this. The fact that I arrived late didn't help matters much.

Lazed around most of Sunday afternoon, finished my book - Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. If you are reading this, I would suggest this be the next book you buy. It has an epiphany like effect, and makes some sense of the bias we go through everyday. Gladwell also wrote The Tipping Point, another bestseller. I have read it, and would recommend it.

Woke up early today and went for a 40 mins jog. Feeling good, perhaps this is why I am in such a cheerful mood. Well, got a long week ahead, and hope that this feel-good moment stays for a while longer.

Cheers.

It Friday! And yup, I still like my job...

It has been a long week. One that I would say is defining. We are working on putting together a USD 50 Million bid, and when we win, it should be newsworthy. It is one of the largest single deal for me, and I have to admit - the opportunity to work on the deal alone is rare. This is why I am here. To work on very large and complex deals. That is what I am good at. It is hard work, but hey who would call it work when you know the rewards for the effort is well worth it.

Current view of my two weeks plan, ending 31st August - Merdeka will have a different meaning this year!

Am going to have a hell of a two weeks coming up, and being a big ass in the office. Well, someone has to be, and it might as well be me. Proposal due by 30th August, and can't fly my resources in due to the haze! One of them is asthmatic, and there is a travel restriction put up by the company anyway. Crap... This is really gonna make it interesting. Will end up working based on 3 different timezones.

I hope I could still play golf this Sunday, shot 85 last week in Bukit Beruntung East Course (7 pars and 1 birdie), and am hoping for a repeat this time around - got a 9 handicapper on the flight. Easier course though, at Tasik Puteri GCC.

Adios for now, and have a good hazy weekend folks.

Cheers.

Blog from da phone while on JTR

Am stuck in a jam over at Jalan Tun Razak and with the haze it feels like I have been here for the last hour. Traffic is so bad that I am actually writing this as I drive. Time now is 4pm. Well at least lunch was decent. Had flat noodles at Rain Nudles in KLCC menu item 32a but the services really sucked. Took almost two hours for lunch. Traffic cleared once past the fly over... Yahoo! Cheers.

A blog away

Been going around the Blog a few times, and I noticed two kind of bloggers so far (may be more, but hey a man's gotta work too!).

One basically blogs on a first party basis, and talks about his/her day, point of view and really uses the blog to share or dump their thoughts. This I like, and hope to move this blog in the same direction. The other, is basically a blog in an attempt to write about others, and cries for attention - basically a "hey look at me, I am so cool" kinda blog. I think it's too superficial to last, and loses its novelty after a while.

I don't care if people read my blog or not. I am not here to entertain. I am here to have a blog and share some of my thoughts. Take it or leave - I don't give a hoot.

Anyway, am having a pretty good day today. A lot of work, and expecting more to come. I don't understand why people bitch about work. No work, no money and no money hey we all know where thats gonna lead into. Enjoy work folks, it's between us and death, so might as well get use to it. Okay, okay I don't really enjoy all of my work, but maybe I am that lucky few that has some parts of my job that I actually really do enjoy - and for that I am thankful.

It's only Tuesday by the way, so will update how "work" feels like by Friday!

Cheers...

Chill out Joint of the Month

It has been a while. Am getting the hang of blogs, and have to admit it is fun only when you have something to say.

Been going to La Bodega for a while now, and currently it is my "Chill Out Joint of the Month". Good food, good wine, and if you are interested in some action there are enough bars around to walk into (some better then others as you will inevitably find out). However, I like Bodega because it has the ambiance that ignites good conversation.

Seriously, when was the last time you went out with a few friends, and all you wanted to do was just hang out - and chat. Talk about work, relationships, politics, the asshole in the office, and as the night draws on some philosophical views on life and where we are heading (I don't know about you, but this usually happens after 1am, there seems to be a cut-off point and beyond it everyone just turns too damn philosophical).

Maybe it's age, maybe it's just the feeling of having been there and done that, but after a while, all a man wants to do is have his cigar, drink his wine, chat with his friends and of course check out the babes.

Well, was in Bodega last week, had a little bit too much to drink and ended up in Cockpit. It's a theme bar/disco joint which to me is just a big waste of time. It has wannabe written all over it, frequented by the same crowd almost every weekend, irregardless of what theme it has, and could do with better looking waitresses. The promise of stewardesses hanging around just didn't materialize.

Well, next time Loft.

Hey by the way... maybe it's just coincidence, but have you noticed how many couples break up between July/August? I have three friends that just broke-up. Tell me if you know a few, I am just wondering that maybe its just timing. Middle of the year, no breaks to spend time together, away from the holiday blues, everyone is busy at work, and confidence is high. Maybe, just maybe it is a good time to break up.

I came up with what I call the Post Relationship Blues (PRB) when I was chatting with one of my friend that broke up, and this is the period when both sides goes through the cycle of accepting change - Shock, Disbelief, Anger, Grief, Acceptance. I am sure there is a more scientific name, but for now its PRB.

Until one reaches Grief or Acceptance, PRB is high! This is the time when you remember all that good moments, and long term relationships tend to re-ignite as soon as one side crumbles and picks up the phone, send flowers, or even that mushy SMS. Well fellas... hang tight! You broke up for a reason, just make sure that you can live with whatever caused the break-up in the first place, and you will probably have a better relationship. Otherwise, you know where to find me if you are interested in a chat.

Cheers...