Day Off 14 Jan 2022

 After several months of hard work to move into 2 new locations and with no December holiday for the last 2 years due to COVID, I decided that I needed a day off from the daily grind. So here is my short video to a friend, showing him the nice breakfast I was having (Nasi Lemak) by the waterside, with a few people in the distance. The clear blue waters was a mirror image of the clear blue sky and the waves lapping against the small boats was a balm to my stressed self.

Enjoy this video for what it is worth.

Take a day or week off. 

Life is more than just existing. It is about living with purpose and maintaining a happy outlook to all those around me.

 

Carpe Diem my friends, near and far. 

 

Running or Vigorous exercise will clear those toxins fast. Keep at it.

 An elderly friend gave me this nugget of wisdom. He is a die hard drinker, and is living out his retirement by meeting friends and doing vigorous exercise. He said, try to do vigorous exercise soon (probably the next day or the earliest instance) to get rid of the toxins in the body. I took his tip today.

   

                               Not obsessed with the timing any more. 

On Friday I had a drinking session with some friends from school. Bottles of whisky were drunk and although I am a marginal social drinker, I decided to meet them for old times sake and not being an anti-social person, I drank some shots of whisky (ok, more than some shots but who is counting ?).

Come Saturday, around 10 am, I went out to the East Coast Parkway and ran like a man possessed. I started at 10.10 am on a rather hot morning. I was pumped and wanted very much to rid myself of sweat and excess fat from the last night's drinking session.

The Legs still have the spring in them. Thankfully 

I started the first 2 km like a man on fire, and with my head down, I just ran. It was a hot morning, and soon beads of sweat were rolling down my forehead, and all over my body. I was only focussing inwards. Not on the people I was passing. During the run, I sensed that there was a smell of rotting food all around the people I passed. There were occasions of perfume wafting my way too. 

Strange I thought to myself, why are people either so smelly or sometimes there were some perfume coming my way.

It hit me roughly around 20 minutes into my run. The smell was coming from ME.

I was emnating foul smelling body odor caused from last night's drinking in the form of smelly sweat.

Eww, you will say. I was shocked to say the least. I have never smelt so bad for a long while.

The run took me all of 56 minutes to 1 hour (I wasn't watching the time - just trying to ensure I survived the tough conditions and not black out) and by the time I finished, I was finished.

Just verifying what my elderly friend told me. Exercise like no tomorrow and get rid of the toxins caused from casual drinking fast. It will do your body a whole lot of good.

                                         End of Run. Finished Literally 

 

Man Utd 0 Wolves 1 ; Talent, Motivation and Pure Aggression all make winners of the Wanderers.

 

Bruno (Lage) is an amazing manager. He has put together, in my opinion, a world class side capable of beating ANY team on their day. Look at Man United. They have Cristiano Ronaldo, Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandez and the whole lot of top talent. Playing at home, they still LOST to Wolves.

My assessment is that the better team WON. Neves was simply outstanding on that day, as was the rest of the Wolves team. They can beat ANYBODY on their day - testament of what was seen on Tuesday 4th morning. 

Dominating in every department, they have a world class goalkeeper in Jose Sa, and another top class defender in Max Killman. Everyone in the team was at the top of that game on that day.

Joao Mouthino, take a bow. At 35, you are ruuning like an 19 year old with passion and determination.

This team is made of champions. Time to prove their worth in silverware.

Enough Said. 

Ikigai - applying the concepts of 'Why I Exist'

 I am re-reading (not for the first time), this fascinating book by Ken Moji (Japanese neuroscientist) in which he describes the philosophy of Ikigai or the reason of being. 

Why we are alive and what we do what we do.

The 5 pillars are (to reiterate) are :

a) Starting Small

b) Releasing Oneself

c) Harmony and Sustainability

d) Finding Joy in the Little Things

e) Being in the Here and Now

I believe the encapsulation of these 5 base concepts is in the tradition of tea drinking. In a tea ceremony, the master carefully prepares the ornaments in the room, paying the utmost attention to the finest details such as what kind of flower is to be decorated on the wall 

1.Starting Small  

There will be a spirit of humility shown by the master and the guests, even though they have long years of experience in this hallowed ceremony 

2. Releasing Oneself 

Many of the wares used in this ceremony (like the teapots and teacups) are decades or even centuries old and are chosen so that they resonate with each other to create and leave an unforgettable experience 

3. Harmony and Sustainability 

Despite the meticulous preparations, the objective of the tea ceremony is for the guests to be relaxed, to take pleasure in the sensory details within the tea room

4. Finding Joy in the Little Things. 

Finally, it is penultimate objective of the tea ceremony to be truly in a state of mindfulness and to take in the inner cosmos of the room and one's state of mind. 

5. Be in the Here and Now 

Its like being transported to another world, another time with the timelessness of the tea master and participants which makes the tea ceremony so fascinating and upholding the principles of Ikigai,

Find Your Ikigai. 

Once you have found your Ikigai, live in harmony with the people and the environment around you. Each person's Ikigai, when implemented in harmony with other people promotes creativity in the free exchange of ideas. This is the best way for uplifting our lives. 

By appreciating and respecting the characteristics of the people around you, you can realise the golden triangle.

                                                              Ikigai

                                                           ^            ^ 

                                              Creativity  < >   Flow

 

Welcome 2022 !

            MAGLEV train in Shenzhen 

The mother of all horrid years has come and gone ! So many setbacks with the health of millions of people put at risk and millions dying from an invisible enemy. COVID - 19 has really changed the landscape and thinking or literally billions of people everywhere in the world.

I do not want to repeat the horrors of the past year, with many countries struggling to keep the pandemic at bay. Many lives have been lost, and families broken by this most horrible of diseases.

We have taken multiple jabs and boosters and worn masks, safe distanced, traced together, taken countless Antigen Rapid Tests, Polymerase Chain Reaction tests, limited our going out, dining together in groups is a luxury (0 to 5 to 2 and 0 and back again), quarantined, spaced out and every thing possible to prevent the further spread of this dreaded disease.

I am prepared to wager a small fee (a bottle of wine) that 2022 will finally bring the wretched virus under control what with the MSD and Pfizer antiviral COVID pill, and every vigilant Governments actions against the spread of yet another variant.

Travel will resume, with new and tighter controls. We will pull through again, and the world will resume (fingers, toes and eyebrows crossed) some semblance of normalcy.

The worrying aspect of it all is that the East West trade tariffs or embargoes, China's growth and tensions in the region will exascerbate 1. energy costs 2. shipping costs and delivery times 3. raw material costs  and it will lead to inflation which needs to be reined in.

The rich poor (GINI coefficient) will be stretched even wider. The GIG economy will be here to stay. New ways of doing business through first digitisation, digitalization, content provision and finally education consultancy will be the way forward.

The 4th Industrial Revolution will herald the age of IoT, AI and Cloud forming the 3 major platforms which must not be neglected. Cryptocurrency, NFTS and the like will change our lives irreversibly.

Who wins ? Who gets left behind ? Its all up to us.

Educate, Re Train, Re Learn to catch the next wave.

Its Hobson's choice and it will not be pretty for the 'has beens'.  

 

Live Each Day Like its the Last Day of your Life

        Steve Jobs is credited (recently) for this. He is right. Somewhat. When you live to a certain age, you realise that the days left in your life is numbered, some less some more. But finite. I am periodically reminded that mortality impacts every single one of us. No excuses, no deferments, no bullshit. You die and end of story.

       So, lets take the mindset that we will die tomorrow. What would you do differently ? Well take me for example. I'm truly middle aged, young old (old would be 70 and above, and old old would be 90) and I am sure my perception of how 'old' is to me will change if I ever hit any of the numbers I stated above. I'm giving these 3 days some serious thought and want to change certain mindsets (its called mind sets for good reason).

       What does a 99 year old man (more likely woman) look forward to ? Her 100th birthday. Perhaps, but she needs the gift of sanity, good memory, not failing eyesight, hearing and mobile limbs. Core strength is definitely a must have. If she does not have a certain quality of life, what good is there to live for herself ?  To live for her grandchildren, and greatgrandchildren would surely give her joy but if in her weakened state, she cant even enjoy the simplest of pleasures like a walk (or a wheeled push) in the park, then its no point pushing on - regardless of age - if she can't feed, be mobile and think for herself. Agree ?

      So lets live each day like its the last day of our lives. What would my outlook be :

a) Laugh more

b) Worry Less

c) Enjoy the moment

d) Do meaningful things to me and to those around me

e) Be better than yesterday.

There it is ;  Forget status, money, fame, power, authority or fawning fans. When you are going to die the next day ; you will focus on what is important to you and your loved ones.

                                                       SEIZE THE DAY 

     

We subconciously set Roadblocks in our Children's minds - stop this if you want your child to excel and reach for the stars

Playing on top of Papa's SimCar  (1969)

Some random thoughts always get into my mind during a long run and I cannot but write them down as these may be pearls of wisdom to people who like to read my blog.

About 2 weeks ago, as I was running at East Coast Parkway and reaching the end of my 6km run, I ran past this young mother who was shepherding her young precocious daughter on a skate skooter. The little girl was merrily scootering down the empty pathway and was trying to make some little swerves at a relatively slow speed.

Her mother, who was some 10 meters behind was yelling at the top of her voice, "No Natalie, don't go too fast, dont swerve, you will fall". The obedient girl would normally follow the strict instruction and slow down - and not know her skating limit. Its the same with life. If our parents over parent us, we will never fall down face flat and discover what or how difficult life is when you hit bottom. The climb back (some may never be able to but safely 99% of us will) will make us wiser.    

Parents, let your kids grow and learn at their peril. We learn best when we fall down, take a beating, possibly cry, and realise how stupid trying that triple flip backwards or doing stupid stuff.

My childhood taught me how to take care of myself. I had numerous scrapes and near misses, I was almost blinded in 1 eye, I almost fell 2 stories and broke my back, was hit in the face by a sharp stone and bled during a neighbourhood stone fight between the Malay kampung boys and the next door Chinese boys, tried to be superman and jumped 10 steps trying to reach a water pipe and failed and ended with 6 stitches on my forehead. I was a dumb kid - but oh such a glorious childhood - carefree - and fun filled days and nights. 

If I could ever turn back time and go to a time in my life, the first 10 - 12 years of my life would be the first time period I would chose. Again and Again. 

I would never have traded those days for a million dollars or more. Those were the days of my childhood and I totally enjoyed every single minute of it. I learnt about bravery, stupidity, sticking to friends, stone can hurt, and falls can maim and kill. 

Nowadays kids play in a virtual world - blasting bad guys through all manner of weaponry - but definitely my days of games were 110 % pure adrenalin enjoyment cost was totally free.  

Parents let your children learn from their falls, their mistakes and their humiliations early in life.

They will thank you for it - when they are fully grown adults. 

Family circa 1970 

Carpe Diem.