It ain’t oRDinArY

Well… you’re 24 years old. You earn £120,000 per week which comes to around RM 33 million a year. You want to be cooler than those who burns money for steamboat/barbeque. You gotta spend it like Christiano Ronaldo who bought a car registration plate “CR7″ for £150,000. Here are the collections of his cars:

Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe

Bentley Continental GT Speed

Bugatti Veyron

Porsche Cayenne

Porsche 911 Convertible

Ferrari F430

Audi R8

BMW M6

ex-owner of Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano

Going to be ex-owner of Bentley Continental GTC

I was asked by a Form 4 student to give ideas and help out in her studies. I thought, “Hey, how hard can Form 4 stuffs be?”
Well, it ain’t hard. It just did not make sense. I was told that a school teacher instructed the whole class to finish up 5 essays and hand it in next Monday. One of the topics made my eyes…and for a short while, my balls, jump out. Please find below, my writings for the essay.
(I’m writing on behalf of the Form4 girl)

“Getting married is important, do you agree?”

In my personal humble opinion, and also that of my first boyfriend; I do agree that getting married is important. That is why I agreed to my boyfriends’ proposal when he get down on his knees and asked for my acceptance. When I accepted him into my life as a boyfriend, I thought “Hey, he’s going to marry me and keep me company for my whole life”. And I am sure that at 16 years old, he understood that being my boyfriend does indeed means being my husband. That is why we are calling each other wifey and hubby all the time. Heck, we even decided to get married the first thing in the morning.
By next morning, we had to attend school; so we had to postpone our marriage plan. Nonetheless, as we are already husband and wife (in our heart and mind), we might as well do some married couple stuff. My hubby told me that married couple sleeps together and have intimate touches and pillow fighting. Since he’s my hubby, and we’re going to get married, we end up doing a lot of those sleeping stuff. So, yes, I agree that marriage is important.

But wait, I do remember that according to my current boyfriend, marriage is not important. We can still call each other hubby and wifey and yet be free of the hassles of marriage. I used to question him regarding our marriage date, and his answers are always “I’m too busy with my studies”. I guess, since my mummy always told me that “Studies must come first”, I just have to let him focus on his studies.
Seeing that I’m so eager to get married, my boyfriend gave me a suggestion. He suggest that we do all the married couple things minus getting married. That will prove to me that marriage is not that important after all. So, from then till now, we sleep together, have intimate touching and pillow fighting. Since I call him a hubby and do all those sleeping stuff with him without getting married, I agree that marriage is not that important after all.

All these hubby calling and doing things which I think have to be done after marriage and doing it before getting married, I’m getting frustrated. Well, I think I’ll put in a divorce into the picture and call it a day.

Both are Professionals. Both are well known career paths. And for most parents, it’s the only career paths they will encourage their children to go for. What are the similarities and differences between this two?

Before I start the comparisons, I would like to point out that the world richest people are neither doctors nor engineers. What a happy start

What people think of them in general:
Doctors – Good doctors come with good memories. Common Sense kills
Engineers – Good engineers come with good common sense. Memorizing kills
Reality – Doctors only need a convincing voice. Engineers need only a loud one.

What people think of them in relation with economy:
Doctors – They are never affected by the economy downturn
Engineers – They are only affected by the economy downturn
Reality – When the economy is bad, people go to public hospitals rather than private clinics. When the economy is good, cost for construction materials skyrocket.

What people think of their position:
Doctors – They are at the top of the hospital hierarchy
Engineers – They are at the top of the construction industry
Reality – Pharmacist always argue that they know more than the doctors. Drafters always argue that they know more than the engineers.

What people think of their salary:
Doctors – A very high paying job which can buy you tens of Mercedes
Engineers – A very high paying job which can buy you tens of Land Rovers
Reality – Doctors argued they get paid peanuts while working 36 hours a day. Engineers argued to be paid at least some peanuts by end of the day.

What TV makes people think of them:
Doctors – TVB Series Healing Hands, US series ER shows high profile doctors who looks like heros
Engineers – National Geographic Megastructures, Discovery Superstructures made all engineers looks awesome
Reality – There are other series which made you think twice about these careers. “Kingdom Hospital” and “Prison Break”

What people expect them to know best:
Doctors – They have perfect health due to their understanding on all medical related items
Engineers – They have perfect houses with no cracks due to their understanding on all building related items
Reality – Doctors, as mentioned above, work 36 hours a day which make it impossible to have a check on their own health. Engineers, as mentioned above, can’t even have enough peanuts to keep the stomach full. And you’re talking bout perfect houses.

What people expect from them:
Doctors – They must give perfect prescription and you expect to get well with the first tablet
Engineers – They must build perfect structures and you do not expect any cracks in all structures
Reality – Pharmacists pass you your medicine, but you never question them eh? Architects specified waterproofing and are in-charged of brickwalls and plastering. Not Engineers!

3 brains are better than 2. 2 brains are most often better than 1. While a single brain is never worse than none. However, one head is always better than two. Particularly if the other starts with a ‘butt’. Or it starts with a ‘pig’ etc.

My experience with one of these heads came during a seminar I was attending. Well, during the seminar (which is a launching of a new version of software) I met an ex-university mate, which I will gladly call Butt1. Butt1 asked whether I’m using the latest version of the software; which I answered no, as I felt that the upgrade is not a necessity. The reaction from Butt1 is shockingly disturbing, as if I’ve just done some C4 bombing/or sniffing of someone’s Butt. Butt1’s immediate response was, “How do you design for X*,then?”.

I laugh as loud as a big fart and reply at the top of my voice, “You do not deserve to be an engineer as you read your analysis results based on something you don’t know from a program you do not understand. It is actually a very basic engineering element which was taught in our university and the calculation can be done manually within a few minutes.” Well, that was what I thought I’m going to say. Instead, I just smile and walk away. But the fact that Butt1 needs to use a program to run the design just bring to us a reality check.

A background stories on some probable civil engineers or any other graduates:

1. They passed STPM with a few B’s and C’s and applied for acceptance into University.
2. They get their 8th choice of Civil Engineering and was sent to a local university.
3. They played Warcraft, FIFA 09, Need for Speed and barely get by the exams.
4. Nonetheless, they can graduate with CGPA of 2.00 and start work as an engineer.
5. They do not understand a damn thing about Structural Integrity and Professional Responsibility.
6. They can design your First Floor supporting your brickwalls below. (It’s like walking with your head and thinking with your feet)
7. They happily tell the end-user that the Bridges you drive over, Drains to counter flooding and Highway roads are designed by them.
8. When instead, the Condominium you’re paying with your life savings are done with some clicking of the mouse with the occasional “How to design this? Takpe lah, program sure betul”

Well, programs may be “betul” just like how 1+1=2. But if people asked you “Satu C4 untuk Satu Orang” and you answer 1+1=2, you are screwed as a close examination of the question will reveal that 1-1=0. In Chinese, people say “guai ng ji your mum is woman meh”. But sometimes it can also be, “Sorry, her mum is Thomas Beatie from Oregon”

Thomas Beatie the first pregnant man

*X stands for some engineering term which I gladly replace with an alphabet so as to not bored my readers, as I felt ‘X’ is cool for an engineering term which engineering in reality isn’t.

While driving through a traffic jam, I always have the feeling that no matter which lane I cut through; it’s always the slower lane. It’s as if the whole traffic system is playing with me. When I go to the left, the right starts moving; I go to the right, the left starts moving. This happens especially when I’m rushing for something. I’ve been advised to think positive. Okay, so is positive on the right? or is it the left one?

Is it my mind is playing with me? No matter what I do, how fast I do it, how I do it; once the thing is done and settled, my mind will have some other better, faster options. We’re living in a world where everyone wanted to be fast, to be on top of everyone else. But will being fast gives you the best options? We wanted fast cars, gas guzzling sport cars, supersonic concorde jets. But now, it seems that these speed demons are killing us slowly with the pollution it gave us.

Therefore, to keep this world in a sane state, I would like to suggest to the Guinness World Records to have the following awards:
- Slowest Decision Maker on “Where to eat?”
- Slowest Eater (which I think I can have a go)
- Slowest Side Parking Style
- Slowest Driver (which I think should be awarded to all those who drive in front of me)

This will certainly bring Slow back as the in-thing and reduce heart attacks, stress build up and best of all have a slow pace world. Just like what they have in Old Town. With the slow pace there as advertised in the major papers for the past few weeks, it makes me feel like going there to have a cup of coffee. Well, I might as well keep changing lanes during the traffic jam to Old Town.

Drifting (the not so hard way)

Drifting (the very hard way)

Received these videos from a friend and it’s too good not to share, especially during the Fast & Furious mania~

A new (launched in Oct 08) revolutionary investment product was promoted by CIMB. I get to know of this product during some internet surfing and it sounds too good to be true. Since then, I’ve been looking to go to a CIMB branch for some additional info. Went to their branch in Sea Park and I have to admit that I’m quite surprise by the services given. As I’m just a small prawn in the big world of business, never has it cross my mind that the branch manager will waste 2 hours of his precious time briefing me about Max Investsave. After some deep thoughts, I made up my mind to put this apple into my retirement basket.

Why am I putting my money in here? What makes it sounds Too Good To Be True…

1. Maximum Returns: Profit will be based on the highest market price achieved during investment tenure, when the deposit is held to maturity. (Eg. You redeem your investment after tenure of 30 years: Highest RIV is 2.56 in year 2025. Therefore, you can redeem all your units in year 2039 based on RIV 2.56)
2. Flexibility: Deposit an amount as minimum as RM50. No penalty for early withdrawal (but this will deactivate the capital protection). 4 different tenures to choose from- 15, 20, 25, or 30 years.
3. Security: 100% principal protected upon maturity. Covered by the Malaysia Deposit Insurance Corporation.
4. Bonus: Bonus units are given for contribution during the promotion period. up to 30% bonus units.

An example of what you might gain with RM100 invested every month (except the last 5 years),  receive bonus units for first year and do not redeem before maturity.

The Catch:

Deposits must be held until maturity (15, 20, 25 or 30 years) if you want the payout based on highest RIV. Investments can be withdrawn anytime but it will only be converted back to your cash according to the current RIV. So, investors have to make sure they redeem only upon maturity to maximise profit.

Unknown details of investment. Due to the complex structure and attractiveness of this product manage by CIMB Invest, it is not made known to the investor which particular companies/funds/commodities invested in. The only thing being told is that it is invested in Equities, Commodities, Real Estate, Hedge Funds, Foreign Exchange and Money Market Instruments. And it’s Syariah-compliant.

For more info on this product, visit CIMBclicks

Just remember me when you’re rich 15, 20, 25 or 30 years later, kay?

Olympus E-520

I’m the proud owner of a brand new Olympus E-520 courtesy of my Brother! Thanx bro! Need lots of training and exploring around with this new toy. Great for my right brain! Zoom zoom…focus focus… get the depth and shoot em down~ lalalala

Clockwise = Right Brain
Anti-Clockwise = Left Brain

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning.
Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others.
If you’re left brained, you are likely good at math and logic.
Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet.

The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility.
Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way.
If you’re right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art.
Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

Personally, I think I’m 45% Left Brained and 55% Right Brained. It seems weird that I’m in a career path that is more to the usage of my Left Brain. Even then, I’ve never regretted my choice in Civil Engineering. Left Brain during working hours and Right Brain for rest and relax.