Thoughts about the AfterLife ; Heaven and all that

I had a dream some time ago. Not too long ago, but I recall I was sleeping in the attic of my house when I dreampt about the afterlife.   These thoughts are mine only. So do bear with me.

Some questions came into my mind. If our loved ones are gone to Heaven, then when it is our time to go, what age will we 'see' them ? Will they be babies, infants, young adults, mature, old or nearly dying ?

This applies to our parents, our grandparents,relatives, friends who died young, and the lot of people who have passed on before us.

In my mind's eye, in the afterlife the dimension called 'time' does not exist ; the physical being does not exist. So the concept of a person as 'matter' does not exist. Only the spirit which can transcend time and move from ages past, present and future can and will be omni present.

So we can possibly teleport from one age to another in the spiritual realm and see our parents and grandparents in their different ages and stages ? How about the times when they weren't married and you and I were not even born ? Will there be some understanding or do we all go into a 'room' at exactly the ages we passed on ?  

If there is no birth how can there be death ??

Are we in the present realm ? Or is there another parallel universe or universes which occupy diffferent zones which teleport us.

This can explain why aeroplanes, ships, people mysteriously disappear for decades or even hundreds of years and somehow reappear now, in the future or in the past 

These aspects of mortality and the fragility of life has sent many millions of people into group think and trying to find meaning to life.

For me, the meaning of life is that it is totally random. To understand it, one needs to have a full understanding of the complex human mind and we are only at 15% - 20% of grasping how our supercomputer works. Once we get to near 100%, perhaps we can fully understand what we were put here for. 

Comprende ?    

    

Happy Birthday Andrew ! 25th Oct ; 21 already. Fully Grown Man !

Photo taken in Dec 2009 Alexandria Port, Egypt 

The relentless march of time goes unabated, and we will one day return to our Maker. My younger son, Andrew, turns 21 years old today. How time flies ! While I am happy to see him spread his wings, the time has passed all to suddenly and we can never recover it. Love your children unequivocably for the binds that keep us together will last a lifetime. 

Just as my parents have gone before me and I will one day face my destiny, I am glad to have a pretty fortunate life. So I wish for my young son, Andrew to go forth and do his utmost with the world at his young unfettered mind. He will face downfalls, trips, challenges, triumphs, loves, losts, joys and sorrows but through it all he will emerge stronger - that is my wish for this young man, just as many millions of young men go forth into adulthood.

Taken Outside the Valley of the Kings, Egypt 2009 

Seize the day young man, for the day will turn to night, the spring will soon turn to summer,autumn and then winter. We will have turned one full circle. The relentless march of time goes on unabated. Whether we have made a mark is not for us to decide. But we can surely give this life a 'Go'.  Make the fullest of your life. We only have one chance.   

Are You A Scrapper ?? Hard Work and Diligence only takes you so far

The Sydney Opera House is Iconic but Smaller than eveyone thinks in real life 

I have discovered that to get somewhere, I must 'scrap' and fight tooth and nail for survival. That is the only way to move forward. To be nice means people can and will take advantage of you if you are not careful. Hence it is always with guarded optimism that I manage my outlook as well as project my aspirations accordingly. 

There are opportunities out there to people who are willing to sacrifice their time, their 'face' and their skills whatever that may be. To take it easy and cruise or depend on the kindness of other people is pathetic, especially if I am able bodied and willing to learn new things, even at my age (55).

The Boomerang - what goes around comes around 

I am now scrapping for everything and anything which means that time is limited and opportunities go to the most hardworking or persistent of all. I will ensure that at the end of the day - I will win that opportunity. Scrappy play in football means both sets of players from both teams are fighting for the ball - for to win the ball gives the player and hence his team the opportunity to score goals. Hence, scrappy play while necessary can be disguised once the fluidity, skill and the willingness of the players to take calculated risks to push forward the ball. Hence in business it is like that, being nice or waiting for things to happen sometimes or many a times is like waiting for the durian to fall. I prefer to have a process whereby the opportunities are ever increasing and the orders keep flowing  orders.   

Never stop improving ; keep trying and get better 

For too long I have been in a rut, just playing according to the old rules of the game. I decided to work harder, think more and changed to rules to suit my needs. That way I an dictate to a large extent, the cashflow, the potentials and the profits. Its a very complicated fluid process with no end in sight. Only challenges and facing up to each and every one head on and moving on. To sit on a problem is dragging the issue 1 more day. 

Kill issues once and for all and start afresh, for there is no time to waste or wishing how things 'could have been'.

Think, Do, Act, Moderate and the cycle repeats itself endlessly.

There will be Bad Days

                                      Sam Man Zhai at east Coast Park Beach 1964



There will be bad days, so be prepared for the storm of criticism that comes your way. Deal with it and become a better person for it. To resist and do a "Mexican standoff' just because it is your life, I think is manifestly stupid and sometimes self pride or ego affects your thinking and behaviour. Denial never benefitted people and they pay the price of it somewhere down the road in time. 

I have been pushing my business for 15 years now, toiling at the orders big and small. It is quite something to go and do something if it does not reward me monetarily. So I must be clear what I went into at the beginning of the journey. If I do not see a positive or net profit at the end of it, I think it is best for me to shut and call that  business a failure. 

It is not about the romantic notion of being an entrepreneur and the 'fake news' press many times romanticises and plays up the wild rides of the Bill Gates, Elon Musks and Jack Mas. They must be truly special, driven, and ego maniacal to push through an agenda for only they have the ability to take on massive financial risk, create that public persona and create demand or forsee an insatiable demand for their 'product'  

Bad days are here as my boyhood team lost 2 - 0 at home to Watford. Nuno now has to take stock, analyse what happened, why the lapse in concentration and decide whether to drop players, how to motivate the team further and whip them into a positive force for the next match next week. Its a bad day at the office but not the end of the world.

Bad days are necessary because I will savour and appreciate the good days even more when the deal comes in unexpectedly or when the work is so plentiful I need to come back and work on the weekend.

Its the balance in life. Deal with it wisely and I will be better for it in the end. 

Words to Live By

This 'Ah Ha' moment happened to me after a hard 6 km run last Saturday, 13th Oct to be exact. Here are the starkest unadulterated thoughts of mine : 

         
                                                      Family Portrait circa 1963 

1. What Drives Me : Living up to the good name of my parents. They have gone, but not in my mind's eye. They are there watching. 

2. The Sum of All My Fears : I don't fear death as it is the end of life. Everyone dies. I fear that I have been a lazy has - been ; a good for nothing. In my own mind. Nothing 
else or what other people say does not matter.

3. The Sum of My Accomplishments : is not for me to determine. So I don't worry too much about it. My plans in the past, some have made it, many have not. But I continue to plan and strive to be a better person. 

4. Will I be remembered ? : Why did I write this blog then. Ha Ha. It doesn't matter when i am gone. It surely doesn't matter when I am alive. If I want to be remembered I would like to be remembered as a good son, a good father to 2 great kids, husband to a wonderful wife and I did all the things I thought would make a difference to the people I come across. 

Timed Run 8th Dec 2015 - full marathon

It was never about making pots of money, I may have been misled in my youth and early young adulthood, but no my values have changed. Its surely not about being the best leader, or best runner, or karateka.

In the end, it doesn't matter for people will think and decide what they want to think about me and the life I led.

5. Will I 'succeed'  ??  It really depends on my life plans, whatever enigmatic energy I have expended into this life, industriousness,resilience, persistence and leadership of a few good people. 

6. Will I be Happy ? Absolutely. Its all a matter of my outlook in life. I hope I will have numerous bouts of happiness and I am able to handle those times well. 

Parc Guell - Barcelone 2016 

                                                     !!  CARPE DIEM !!

    
     
    

My First trip to Europe II of II - Reflections

feeding the pigeons at Trafalgar Square 

These are among one of the earliest photos I have of myself, apart from the days when I was a brown baby and 'sam man zhai' (street kid in Cantonese as my Por Por or grandmother would fondly say of me). 

We lived in a large 30,000 foot post colonial bungalow at 6 Adis Road, Singapore 9. When the days were long with play, barefoot in the parks, on roads, playing football at the next door cement floored playground belonging to the Methodist Girls School.

My days of childhood, from birth till about 14 or 15 were in 1 word "carefree". The entire era was set in upon a glorious backdrop of emerging Singapore, from the horrors and abject humiiation of the 2nd World War, the Japanese Occupation of British Colony Singapore. Then after the 2nd Wordl War, there was a strong anti-colonialist movement leading to the formation of the Federation of Malaya together with Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore.

All of these historical events went over my infancy and early childhood days. All I worried about was whether I could score goals against the next door boys and playing with our 3 dogs, Jippy, Mickey and Scamper. 

Fast forward to 1974 and as I fondly look back at these times, I am struck at the innocence of my outlook and my face was aglow and I was rather a plump kid. I had a joyous trip, I vaguely remember the Greece trip (most of the sights were ruins ha ha) but London was a fascinating eye opener for a young lad like me. I immediately wanted to be 'English'. Yes I was naive and stupid for a while. This is called finding out oneself 

Several events stood out from that trip, I strongly remember standing at Trafalgar Square and feeding the pigeons, it was a cold day but the sun was shining. The country was less cosmopolitan than today and the red double decker buses and the black beetle looking London Cabs stood out. In addition, I strongly remember we stayed a couple of nights at the Strand - which was considered 5 star in those days. The service was impeccable to my pre teenage mind.

Outside St Paul's Cathedral 

My father was a lovely, brilliant man. Slow to anger at home, he led by quiet example. My trip to Europe was my luck as the first born. Before my 12th birthday, he took me to visit Greece and England, his 'motherland' as I teased him. He was an Anglophile, that of the "Sun never sets on the British Empire" mentaility which was  mercilessly put down by globalization and the rise of mutlipolar societies each trumpeting their strengths. From socialism, to social democrats, Communists, to dictatorships each one was careening into the future.

My father Geoffrey studied in Grays Inn London, was called to the Bar in the early 50s and still had many English friends from his undergraduate days. I recalled we stayed in a couple of his friend's places and ate some very mild curry. Ha ha !  

In those days (early 1970s) the British Empire's influence was but a small number of countries still considered 'colonies', Hong Kong was about the last to go in 1997 and was handed over to the Chinese, who promptly administered the "1 country 2 systems" rule whereby the Chief Executive of the country was someone approved by Beijing. 

Indeed the white man's soft power influence has been greatly diminished. Especially since the start of the 21st Century.  Good riddance. 

The number of congregation goers numbers in the thousands on Sunday 

My first trip to Europe June 1974 I of II

Outside the Pantheon June 1974 with my Papa 

I believe around June of 1974, my Dad took me to visit Greece, the cradle of civilzation and England, his 2nd home so as to indoctrinate me into the fading glories of Western Europe. As a pre teen, I was a precocious chap probably thinking I knew it all when in fact I knew next to nothing ! 

From the dim recesses of my memory, I can recall Greece and Athens at that time being somewhat overcast, and we visited the Pantheon, as well as some of the other relics. I recall trying to look like my Dad but with no success. 

Feeding the Pigeons at Trafalgar Square with a bobby in the background

In England, he was much more at 'home' and I recall us visiting the homes of Brian Grieg, as well as seeing his sons Jamie and another. It was and is a hazy recollection. Sometime in the '80s Jamie came to our house and I still have a photo of his visit. We also had some dinner at some walk-up apartment of my Dad's and we had some pretty bland curry !

The highlight of the trip, was the visit to Trafalgar Square, seeing Nelson's column (he Lord Nelson was credited with winning the sea battle against Napolean and died on the ship during the height of his victory). The pix above shows me feeding some unamed pigeon with the famed British Bobby in the background. Those days, Asians seemed and felt like 2nd class as we were not that numerous in UK and hence the feeling of "not there yet" was apparent. Times sure have changed.