My previous blog entry is quite boring and repetitive in some way. Hence this post is to explain the reason behind it.
"Much Ado about Nothing" is a comedic play from Shakespeare which I suggest for you to have a look at.
I've had few Internet friends, and those popular people in Social Media I observed.
A lot of people, gives their commentaries in FB on most events and tragedies that happened in Malaysia. There will be many "Likes" and incoming comments, debates, etc.
But some of them that I knew personally, actually are worse off in real life, some economically, some with their own damned problems of their own.
I'm sorry I wrote this, but my point is, we spent too much time on this Social Media, giving good impression of our appearance and self image based on ideas, words, talks, images, Instagrams, and for what?
For what?, since in real life we are struggling with our own damned problems.
Some wrote about politics, had their writings copied from blogs to blogs, but have to ask for money-loans from friends.
I remembered the time from earliest days of this blog, year 2013, when I had to travel 50kilometers from Kajang to Klang and back forth, daily basis, on my 100cc motorcycle, sometimes enduring rain during the journey.
And I had to work in construction business then which itself is a tiring and stressful job.
And during that time, there were emails, letters, chats from people everywhere, but deep down I was humbled by real life struggles.
And now, being married and committed, I do felt silly when looking back at what I wrote before. I felt it was too "noisy" and if only I could spend time and effort at improving real life things. Only if.
But then, we humans make mistakes, and it is from our mistakes that we learn, which become our solid foundations later on.
Swooning of Hero in the Church scene, Alfred Elmore, 1846. Source : Wikipedia
2. Women
There was this talk about men, polygamy and their obsession with women.
For me, personally, I'm 35 now, in 5 years time I'll be 40, hopefully with good health, God helps.
I have dreams and ambitions of my own, to have my own company, and to become a Mechanical IR.
And I'm yet to have kids.
So for me, if there's "opportunity" of whatsoever to have "illegitimate scandals" or legitimate relationship with another woman, I'll be personally honest, it will just ruin me mentally and financially.
For me, it's not worth it. There are other things in life that are bigger than that.
And I'm not gifted with good looks anyway.
But then for other men, that is their own personal choice and their own risk.
As you get older, be it whether you are male or female, there will be other people who look more charming or beautiful than yourself or your spouse.
As you get older, as time flows. There will be cuter ladies, more charming men.
Somehow, there are greater things in life.
3. Greater things in life
Even though our independence ain't as bloody as other countries, (but there are blood spilled along the way), it is realised upon efforts driven by ambitions and aspirations.
The communist killed because they thought it was a fight against the British. Those who are against the communist do it for the peace. Everybody believe and everybody fought for it.
Spilled blood and sweat upon the muddy fields of our country, rather than be keyboard warriors and slamming each other, it is better to be thankful and to heed great lessons.
Aspirations drives people. And it built nations.
Malaysia, Happy Independence Day / Happy Malaysia Day.
One of the things I did last week was to un-install Facebook from my smartphone.
One morning, looking at my FB is the first thing I did when I woke up, and upon realisation, I felt that I'm addicted to this FB, that I need to cut it out.
My other idle mind cheated me, telling me it's no serious matter, so I told myself, if it's not so serious, then un-installing it and to go the whole day offline, should be no problem.
And that whole day was filled with the urge to go online. Then I realised, I am addicted to this, and there's a need to control.
If you watched the above video, I would like to add.
Not only small things in life matter, it's the small things in real life that matters much.
I was guilty of making noises with own opinions, but then I learned enough to keep quiet even though there was an urge to speak, but deep down, I knew speaking up only spoils things up.
There were many famous Internet people out there, commenting here and there, now and then, but if you knew the real life of them, you'd be surprised.
You'll felt cheated someway. Because you were attracted to read the famous writing of these people, like my self.
They are actually mundane guys like you and me. It's only because of famous, and in addition what they write seems interesting.
Interesting points about elections, things in social media and life, addicts you and me, but ask yourself,
1. Is this thing going to make your life any better?
2. If I were to cut off this from my life, will my life change for the better?
As I emphasised in this blog quite often, there are things enforced into you, and there are choices you can choose.
You can choose to disconnect and to surge in the real life forward.
There's no need to get emotional over viral things in Net, or over words spoken or written, because, you can choose to switch off the Internet and focus on the real life issues.
President Powers, Provost Fenves, Deans, members of the faculty, family and friends and most importantly, the class of 2014. Congratulations on your achievement.
It's been almost 37 years to the day that I graduated from UT. I remember a lot of things about that day. I remember I had throbbing headache from a party the night before. I remember I had a serious girlfriend, whom I later married — that's important to remember by the way — and I remember that I was getting commissioned in the Navy that day.
But of all the things I remember, I don't have a clue who the commencement speaker was that evening, and I certainly don't remember anything they said. So, acknowledging that fact, if I can't make this commencement speech memorable, I will at least try to make it short.
The University's slogan is, "What starts here changes the world." I have to admit — I kinda like it. "What starts here changes the world."
Tonight there are almost 8,000 students graduating from UT. That great paragon of analytical rigor, Ask.Com, says that the average American will meet 10,000 people in their lifetime. That's a lot of folks. But, if every one of you changed the lives of just 10 people — and each one of those folks changed the lives of another 10 people — just 10 — then in five generations — 125 years — the class of 2014 will have changed the lives of 800 million people.
800 million people — think of it — over twice the population of the United States. Go one more generation and you can change the entire population of the world — eight billion people.
If you think it's hard to change the lives of 10 people — change their lives forever — you're wrong. I saw it happen every day in Iraq and Afghanistan: A young Army officer makes a decision to go left instead of right down a road in Baghdad and the 10 soldiers in his squad are saved from close-in ambush. In Kandahar province, Afghanistan, a non-commissioned officer from the Female Engagement Team senses something isn't right and directs the infantry platoon away from a 500-pound IED, saving the lives of a dozen soldiers.
But, if you think about it, not only were these soldiers saved by the decisions of one person, but their children yet unborn were also saved. And their children's children were saved. Generations were saved by one decision, by one person.
But changing the world can happen anywhere and anyone can do it. So, what starts here can indeed change the world, but the question is — what will the world look like after you change it?
Well, I am confident that it will look much, much better. But if you will humor this old sailor for just a moment, I have a few suggestions that may help you on your way to a better a world. And while these lessons were learned during my time in the military, I can assure you that it matters not whether you ever served a day in uniform. It matters not your gender, your ethnic or religious background, your orientation or your social status.
Our struggles in this world are similar, and the lessons to overcome those struggles and to move forward — changing ourselves and the world around us — will apply equally to all.
I have been a Navy SEAL for 36 years. But it all began when I left UT for Basic SEAL training in Coronado, California. Basic SEAL training is six months of long torturous runs in the soft sand, midnight swims in the cold water off San Diego, obstacles courses, unending calisthenics, days without sleep and always being cold, wet and miserable. It is six months of being constantly harrassed by professionally trained warriors who seek to find the weak of mind and body and eliminate them from ever becoming a Navy SEAL.
But, the training also seeks to find those students who can lead in an environment of constant stress, chaos, failure and hardships. To me basic SEAL training was a lifetime of challenges crammed into six months.
So, here are the 10 lessons I learned from basic SEAL training that hopefully will be of value to you as you move forward in life.
Every morning in basic SEAL training, my instructors, who at the time were all Vietnam veterans, would show up in my barracks room and the first thing they would inspect was your bed. If you did it right, the corners would be square, the covers pulled tight, the pillow centered just under the headboard and the extra blanket folded neatly at the foot of the rack — that's Navy talk for bed.
It was a simple task — mundane at best. But every morning we were required to make our bed to perfection. It seemed a little ridiculous at the time, particularly in light of the fact that were aspiring to be real warriors, tough battle-hardened SEALs, but the wisdom of this simple act has been proven to me many times over.
If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can't do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.
And, if by chance you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made — that you made — and a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better.
If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.
During SEAL training the students are broken down into boat crews. Each crew is seven students — three on each side of a small rubber boat and one coxswain to help guide the dingy. Every day your boat crew forms up on the beach and is instructed to get through the surfzone and paddle several miles down the coast. In the winter, the surf off San Diego can get to be 8 to 10 feet high and it is exceedingly difficult to paddle through the plunging surf unless everyone digs in. Every paddle must be synchronized to the stroke count of the coxswain. Everyone must exert equal effort or the boat will turn against the wave and be unceremoniously tossed back on the beach.
For the boat to make it to its destination, everyone must paddle. You can't change the world alone — you will need some help — and to truly get from your starting point to your destination takes friends, colleagues, the good will of strangers and a strong coxswain to guide them.
If you want to change the world, find someone to help you paddle.
Over a few weeks of difficult training my SEAL class, which started with 150 men, was down to just 35. There were now six boat crews of seven men each. I was in the boat with the tall guys, but the best boat crew we had was made up of the the little guys — the munchkin crew we called them — no one was over about five-foot-five.
The munchkin boat crew had one American Indian, one African American, one Polish American, one Greek American, one Italian American, and two tough kids from the midwest. They out-paddled, out-ran and out-swam all the other boat crews. The big men in the other boat crews would always make good-natured fun of the tiny little flippers the munchkins put on their tiny little feet prior to every swim. But somehow these little guys, from every corner of the nation and the world, always had the last laugh — swimming faster than everyone and reaching the shore long before the rest of us.
SEAL training was a great equalizer. Nothing mattered but your will to succeed. Not your color, not your ethnic background, not your education and not your social status.
If you want to change the world, measure a person by the size of their heart, not the size of their flippers.
Several times a week, the instructors would line up the class and do a uniform inspection. It was exceptionally thorough. Your hat had to be perfectly starched, your uniform immaculately pressed and your belt buckle shiny and void of any smudges. But it seemed that no matter how much effort you put into starching your hat, or pressing your uniform or polishing your belt buckle — it just wasn't good enough. The instructors would find "something" wrong.
For failing the uniform inspection, the student had to run, fully clothed into the surfzone and then, wet from head to toe, roll around on the beach until every part of your body was covered with sand. The effect was known as a "sugar cookie." You stayed in that uniform the rest of the day — cold, wet and sandy.
There were many a student who just couldn't accept the fact that all their effort was in vain. That no matter how hard they tried to get the uniform right, it was unappreciated. Those students didn't make it through training. Those students didn't understand the purpose of the drill. You were never going to succeed. You were never going to have a perfect uniform.
Sometimes no matter how well you prepare or how well you perform you still end up as a sugar cookie. It's just the way life is sometimes.
If you want to change the world get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.
Every day during training you were challenged with multiple physical events — long runs, long swims, obstacle courses, hours of calisthenics — something designed to test your mettle. Every event had standards — times you had to meet. If you failed to meet those standards your name was posted on a list, and at the end of the day those on the list were invited to a "circus." A circus was two hours of additional calisthenics designed to wear you down, to break your spirit, to force you to quit.
No one wanted a circus.
A circus meant that for that day you didn't measure up. A circus meant more fatigue — and more fatigue meant that the following day would be more difficult — and more circuses were likely. But at some time during SEAL training, everyone — everyone — made the circus list.
But an interesting thing happened to those who were constantly on the list. Over time those students — who did two hours of extra calisthenics — got stronger and stronger. The pain of the circuses built inner strength, built physical resiliency.
Life is filled with circuses. You will fail. You will likely fail often. It will be painful. It will be discouraging. At times it will test you to your very core.
But if you want to change the world, don't be afraid of the circuses.
At least twice a week, the trainees were required to run the obstacle course. The obstacle course contained 25 obstacles including a 10-foot high wall, a 30-foot cargo net and a barbed wire crawl, to name a few. But the most challenging obstacle was the slide for life. It had a three-level 30-foot tower at one end and a one-level tower at the other. In between was a 200-foot-long rope. You had to climb the three-tiered tower and once at the top, you grabbed the rope, swung underneath the rope and pulled yourself hand over hand until you got to the other end.
The record for the obstacle course had stood for years when my class began training in 1977. The record seemed unbeatable, until one day, a student decided to go down the slide for life head first. Instead of swinging his body underneath the rope and inching his way down, he bravely mounted the TOP of the rope and thrust himself forward.
It was a dangerous move — seemingly foolish, and fraught with risk. Failure could mean injury and being dropped from the training. Without hesitation the student slid down the rope perilously fast. Instead of several minutes, it only took him half that time and by the end of the course he had broken the record.
If you want to change the world sometimes you have to slide down the obstacle head first.
During the land warfare phase of training, the students are flown out to San Clemente Island which lies off the coast of San Diego. The waters off San Clemente are a breeding ground for the great white sharks. To pass SEAL training there are a series of long swims that must be completed. One is the night swim.
Before the swim the instructors joyfully brief the trainees on all the species of sharks that inhabit the waters off San Clemente. They assure you, however, that no student has ever been eaten by a shark — at least not recently. But, you are also taught that if a shark begins to circle your position — stand your ground. Do not swim away. Do not act afraid. And if the shark, hungry for a midnight snack, darts towards you — then summon up all your strength and punch him in the snout, and he will turn and swim away.
There are a lot of sharks in the world. If you hope to complete the swim you will have to deal with them.
So, if you want to change the world, don't back down from the sharks.
As Navy SEALs one of our jobs is to conduct underwater attacks against enemy shipping. We practiced this technique extensively during basic training. The ship attack mission is where a pair of SEAL divers is dropped off outside an enemy harbor and then swims well over two miles — underwater — using nothing but a depth gauge and a compass to get to their target.
During the entire swim, even well below the surface, there is some light that comes through. It is comforting to know that there is open water above you. But as you approach the ship, which is tied to a pier, the light begins to fade. The steel structure of the ship blocks the moonlight, it blocks the surrounding street lamps, it blocks all ambient light.
To be successful in your mission, you have to swim under the ship and find the keel — the centerline and the deepest part of the ship. This is your objective. But the keel is also the darkest part of the ship — where you cannot see your hand in front of your face, where the noise from the ship's machinery is deafening and where it is easy to get disoriented and fail.
Every SEAL knows that under the keel, at the darkest moment of the mission, is the time when you must be calm, composed — when all your tactical skills, your physical power and all your inner strength must be brought to bear.
If you want to change the world, you must be your very best in the darkest moment.
The ninth week of training is referred to as "Hell Week." It is six days of no sleep, constant physical and mental harassment, and one special day at the Mud Flats. The Mud Flats are area between San Diego and Tijuana where the water runs off and creates the Tijuana slues, a swampy patch of terrain where the mud will engulf you.
It is on Wednesday of Hell Week that you paddle down to the mud flats and spend the next 15 hours trying to survive the freezing cold mud, the howling wind and the incessant pressure to quit from the instructors. As the sun began to set that Wednesday evening, my training class, having committed some "egregious infraction of the rules" was ordered into the mud.
The mud consumed each man till there was nothing visible but our heads. The instructors told us we could leave the mud if only five men would quit — just five men — and we could get out of the oppressive cold. Looking around the mud flat it was apparent that some students were about to give up. It was still over eight hours till the sun came up — eight more hours of bone-chilling cold.
The chattering teeth and shivering moans of the trainees were so loud it was hard to hear anything. And then, one voice began to echo through the night, one voice raised in song. The song was terribly out of tune, but sung with great enthusiasm. One voice became two and two became three and before long everyone in the class was singing. We knew that if one man could rise above the misery then others could as well.
The instructors threatened us with more time in the mud if we kept up the singingbut the singing persisted. And somehow the mud seemed a little warmer, the wind a little tamer and the dawn not so far away.
If I have learned anything in my time traveling the world, it is the power of hope. The power of one person — Washington, Lincoln, King, Mandela and even a young girl from Pakistan, Malala — one person can change the world by giving people hope.
So, if you want to change the world, start singing when you're up to your neck in mud.
Finally, in SEAL training there is a bell. A brass bell that hangs in the center of the compound for all the students to see. All you have to do to quit is ring the bell.
Ring the bell and you no longer have to wake up at 5 o'clock. Ring the bell and you no longer have to do the freezing cold swims. Ring the bell and you no longer have to do the runs, the obstacle course, the PT — and you no longer have to endure the hardships of training. Just ring the bell.
If you want to change the world don't ever, ever ring the bell.
To the graduating class of 2014, you are moments away from graduating. Moments away from beginning your journey through life. Moments away from starting to change the world — for the better. It will not be easy.
But, YOU are the class of 2014, the class that can affect the lives of 800 million people in the next century.
Start each day with a task completed. Find someone to help you through life. Respect everyone.
Know that life is not fair and that you will fail often. But if take you take some risks, step up when the times are toughest, face down the bullies, lift up the downtrodden and never, ever give up — if you do these things, then the next generation and the generations that follow will live in a world far better than the one we have today.
And what started here will indeed have changed the world — for the better.
We felt angry and screwed, and went to sleep in anger and bitching about the bloody neighbourhood.
That's why, if you followed my blog, I kinda hate Islamic preaching. Because most mis-happenings in my life are due to Muslims. You can call them Malay or what.
I remembered on my last project, where the main contractor's and consultant's engineers, sometimes keep asking for favours, either asking for meal or dinner dining, sometimes asking monetary favours, which did fall under bribery, but then, as subcons, we had no choice but to oblige,as suddenly then our work or approval to do something is made "difficult".
All of those "shitholes" are Muslims.
That's why, for me, religious is personal kinda thing, because people are abusing it and are "abused" themselves. You keep harping about Islamic beauty and all, but then you are not helped by what you see.
So I walk away from these people.
I go to my surau and prayed, but then, I don't hope much for the Muslim as there are times my slippers got stolen and I had to walk back from the surau to my house barefooted.
I do feel like being in a crisis of faith, like understanding the atheist view, the Epicurus, the agnostics, and in the same time you see all this shit Muslims.
But then, there are good ones.
There are good people.
There are good Muslims.
And there is goodness and the only thing to go on, in this life, is to move forward, walk away and focus of the good ones, while trying to footdance in the pathway to avoid those little shits in the walkway.
THE POLICE - EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE
Tuning: standart(EADGBe)
[Intro]
Aadd9
E|-----------------------------------|
B|-----------------------------------|
G|-----------6---------------6-------|
D|-------9-----9---9-----9-----9---9-|
A|-----7---7-----7-----7---7-----7---|
E|---5---------------5---------------|
F#madd9
E|--------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------|
G|--------2---------------2-------|
D|----6-----6---6-----6-----6---6-|
A|--4---4-----4-----4---4-----4---|
E|2---------------2---------------|
Dadd9 D Eadd9 E
E|----------------------------------|
B|----------------------------------|
G|----9---7-----------11---9--------|
D|--7---7---7---7---9----9---9---9--|
A|5-----------5---7------------7----|
E|----------------------------------|
Aadd9
E|-----------------------------------|
B|-----------------------------------|
G|-----------6---------------6-------|
D|-------9-----9---9-----9-----9---9-|
A|-----7---7-----7-----7---7-----7---|
E|---5---------------5---------------|
[VERSE 1]
Aadd9(x2) F#madd9(x2)
Every breath you take and every move you make
Dadd9 Eadd9 F#madd9(x2)
Every bond you break every step you take I'll be watching you
Aadd9(x2) F#madd9(x2)
Every single day and every word you say
Dadd9 Eadd9 Aadd9(x2)
Every game you play every night you stay I'll be watching you
[CHORUS]
Dadd9 Cadd9
E|-------------------------------------------------------|
B|-------------------------------------------------------|
G|-----------------9---7-------------7---5---------------|
D|---------------7---7---7---7-----5---5---5---5---------|
A|-------------5-----------5-----3-----------3-----------|
E|-------------------------------------------------------|
..Oh can't you seeeeeee you beloong to
Aadd9
E|---------------------------------------------------|
B|---------------------------------------------------|
G|-----------6---------------6-----------------------|
D|-------9-----9---9-----9-----9---9-----------------|
A|-----7---7-----7-----7---7-----7-------------------|
E|---5---------------5-------------------------------|
meeee how my poooor heart
Badd9
E|-------------------------------------------|
B|-------------------------------------------|
G|-------------8---------------8-------------|
D|---------11----11--11----11----11--11------|
A|-------9---9-----9-----9---9-----9---------|
E|-----7---------------7---------------------|
aaaaaches with every steeep you
Eadd9 Eadd9
E|---------------------------------------------|
B|---------------------------------------------|
G|--------11--9-----------11--9-----9----------|
D|------9---9---9---9---9---9---9--------------|
A|----7-----------7---7-----------7------------|
E|---------------------------------------------|
take
[Verse 2]
Aadd9
Every move you make,
F#madd9
Every vow you break,
Dadd9
Every smile you fake
Eadd9
Every claim you stake,
F#madd9
I\\\'ll be watching you.
[Puente]
Eb
Since you've been gone, I've been lost without a trace,
F
I dream at night I can only see your face,
Eb
I look around but it's you I can't replace,
F
I feel so cold and I long for your embrace,
Eb G
I keep crying baby, baby please.
[Instrumental]
Aadd9 x2
F#madd9 x2
Dadd9 x1
Eadd9 x1
F#madd9 x2
Aadd9 x2
F#madd9 x2
Dadd9 x1
Eadd9 x1
Aadd9 x2
[Coro]
Dadd9 Cadd9
E|-------------------------------------------------------|
B|-------------------------------------------------------|
G|-----------------9---7-------------7---5---------------|
D|---------------7---7---7---7-----5---5---5---5---------|
A|-------------5-----------5-----3-----------3-----------|
E|-------------------------------------------------------|
..Oh can't you seeeeee you beloong to
Aadd9
E|---------------------------------------------------|
B|---------------------------------------------------|
G|-----------6---------------6-----------------------|
D|-------9-----9---9-----9-----9---9-----------------|
A|-----7---7-----7-----7---7-----7-------------------|
E|---5---------------5-------------------------------|
meee how my poor heart
Badd9
E|-------------------------------------------|
B|-------------------------------------------|
G|-------------8---------------8-------------|
D|---------11----11--11----11----11--11------|
A|-------9---9-----9-----9---9-----9---------|
E|-----7---------------7---------------------|
aaaches with every steeep you
Eadd9 Eadd9
E|---------------------------------------------|
B|---------------------------------------------|
G|--------11--9-----------11--9-----9----------|
D|------9---9---9---9---9---9---9--------------|
A|----7-----------7---7-----------7------------|
E|---------------------------------------------|
take
[Verso 3]
Aadd9(x2)
Every move you make,
F#madd9(x2)
Every vow you break,
Dadd9
Every smile you fake
Eadd9
Every claim you stake,
F#madd9(x2)
I\\\'ll be watching you.
Dadd9
Every move you make,
Eadd9
Every step you take
F#madd9(x4)
I'll be watching you
Aadd9(x2) F#madd9 Dadd9
I'll be watching you
Yesterday night, I woke up in the middle of the night and watched my wife sleeping.
And I remembered, 8th August 2015, 2 years ago I got engaged to this lovely silly snoring angel.
Before I did the tahajjud yesterday and all, actually I took my guitar and played this tune, while watching her snoring in content.
However it was quite awful that today I searched for the correct tab.
Anyhow I wished her today in FB and attached Come Undone by Duran Duran instead.
A story of Malays in my neighbourhood.
Awal tahun ni, aku pernah tulis di sini, tentang masalah peribadi-perumahan.
Belakang rumah aku ada badminton court, masalahnya budak2 Melayu selalu main bola di situ hingga kerap cermin tingkap pecah. Budak2 berumur 16-18 tahun.
Bila cermin pecah, tak ada ganti rugi, masing2 buat diam.
Tika aku menyuarakan suara aku kepada budak2 tu, aku ditempik. Malahan ada sedikit pergelutan akibat panas hati.
Aku dah mengadu ke maintenance management, no action taken.
Nak tak nak, terpaksa juga keluarkan duit untuk buat besi penghadang ke kebanyakan cermin tingkap untuk elak pecah.
Paling sakit hati, ada satu dua kali, aku dengar budak2 tu menjerit sindir, "siapa yang nak cabar kami berhenti main bola ha?".
Apa boleh buat? Sabar dan doa banyak2.
Akhir Syawal baru ini, aku ada buat rumah terbuka dan ada jiran2 sekeliling yang datang.
Aku terkejut dengar apa yang diceritakan.
Awal tahun ini, MRT Fasa 1 siap, di mana area rumah aku Subang, kini ada bas RM1 untuk ke MRT terdekat. Dan Julai lepas, MRT siap sepenuhnya sampai ke Kajang.
The catch?
Harga sewa rumah apartment aku meningkat dari RM500 kepada RM1,000 sebulan.
Rumah aku tingkat bawah corner lot, harga sekitar RM110,000 tahun 2015. Aku bernasib baik beli dengan harga jauh lebih murah dari itu.
Jiran di lot depan rumah aku berpindah akibat tak tahan peningkatan sewa, beritahu aku harga jualan rumah yang ditawarkan tuan rumah, RM300,000.
Kini lot rumah itu kosong tanpa penyewa. Tapi harga sewaan tak turun.
Aku perhatikan agar ramai penyewa Melayu berpindah dari kawasan apartment, termasuklah beberapa keluarga yang anak2nya main bola di badminton court rumah aku itu.
Masih ada budak2 Melayu bermain bola lagi lepas Syawal baru2 ni, tetapi sudah tak seramai dan seganas dulu.
Kini, lebih ramai penghuni bangsa asing, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Myanmar yang menghuni kawasan apartment, kerana mereka tinggal beramai-ramai dalam satu rumah, maka mereka mampu dengan kos sewa RM1000 sebulan.
Satu perkara bagus ialah Surau area rumah aku kini lebih ramai pengunjung.
Subuh pun boleh dapat 2 saf, (2 saf = two lines of people praying)
Maghrib dan Isyak dapat 4-5 saf.
My thoughts on this
Aku rasa, walaupun ramai Melayu menyalahkan PM Najib atas kesempitan hidup sekarang, tapi mungkin, we should blame ourselves.
Kalau nak kata ekonomi teruk, ramai juga watak seperti Datuk Vida dan Datuk Aliff Syukri tu ketika ekonomi agak teruk sekarang.
Aku rasa kebanyakan Melayu "mungkin" hilang keberkatan hidup.
Social media
Angkara media sosial mungkin satu punca hilang berkat hidup.
Keluarga artis yang bergaduh pasal karaoke, semua masuk komen dan mengecam.
Isu anak zina, banyak komentar sosial itu dan ini. Berdebat-debat tak sudah.
Tak campur lagi budak2 muda yang suka troll dan joke bodoh bagai.
Tentang filem Dunkirk pun orang ramai sibuk nak mengecam artis itu dan ini.
Komen, pendapat dan berdebat-debat.
But for what?
The feeling of becoming the next literary great?
Aku kini memilih untuk tak ambil tahu banyak berita semasa, apatah lagi nak keluarkan opinion bagai.
Religion
Melayu agak sensitif dengan agama.
Tapi, kalau benar-benar diperhati, kebanyakan orang Melayu ini alim-kah? Atau setakat "sembang-deras".
Kawasan apartment mak aku tiada surau, tapi di kawasan flat bersebelahan, ada satu surau.
Flat tersebut, majoriti Melayu Islam yang "middle-income", berpendapatan sederhana ke bawah.
Yang pergi ke surau, 5 orang. (Yang ini aku sendiri perhati sejak dulu).
Kawasan flat PPR ayah dan ibu mertua aku di Cheras, majoriti Melayu Islam yang berpendapatan sederhana ke bawah. Melayu Islam yang pergi ke surau waktu Ramadan tahun ini, 6-7 lelaki dewasa dan 5 lelaki remaja. 20 orang yang lain, Bangladesh.
Sedangkan di satu area elit di Damansara (berdekatan tempat kerja lama aku), RAMAI ke surau. Kereta-kereta jenama mewah memenuhi masjid tersebut hampir setiap malam Ramadan.
Media bodoh di TV selalu menggambarkan sebaliknya, tetapi itu lah yang aku perhatikan.
Summary.
Kurangkan pendapat, tingkatkan pendapatan. Walk the talk.
Rain, somebody said, is like confetti from heaven. So even the heavens are celebrating this morning, joining the rest of us at this wonderful commencement ceremony. Before we go any further, graduates, you have an important task to perform because behind you are your parents and guardians.
Two or three or four years ago, they drove into Cardigan, dropped you off, helped you get settled and then turned around and drove back out the gates. It was an extraordinary sacrifice for them. They drove down the trail of tears back to an emptier and lonelier house. They did that because the decision about your education, they knew, was about you. It was not about them.
That sacrifice and others they made have brought you to this point. But this morning is not just about you. It is also about them, so I hope you will stand up and turn around and give them a great round of applause. Please.
Now when somebody asks me how the remarks at Cardigan went, I will be able to say they were interrupted by applause.
Congratulations, class of 2017. You’ve reached an important milestone. An important stage of your life is behind you. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you it is the easiest stage of your life, but it is in the books.
While you’ve been at Cardigan, you have all been a part of an important international community as well. And I think that needs to be particularly recognized.
[Roberts gave brief remarks in other languages.]
Now around the country today at colleges, high schools, middle schools, commencement speakers are standing before impatient graduates. And they are almost always saying the same things. They will say that today is a commencement exercise. ‘It is a beginning, not an end. You should look forward.’ And I think that is true enough, however, I think if you’re going to look forward to figure out where you’re going, it’s good to know where you’ve been and to look back as well.
And I think if you look back to your first afternoon here at Cardigan, perhaps you will recall that you were lonely. Perhaps you will recall that you were a little scared, a little anxious. And now look at you. You are surrounded by friends that you call brothers, and you are confident in facing the next step in your education.
It is worth trying to think why that is so. And when you do, I think you may appreciate that it was because of the support of your classmates in the classroom, on the athletic field and in the dorms.
And as far as the confidence goes, I think you will appreciate that it is not because you succeeded at everything you did, but because with the help of your friends, you were not afraid to fail. And if you did fail, you got up and tried again.
And if you failed again, you got up and tried again. And if you failed again, it might be time to think about doing something else. But it was not just success, but not being afraid to fail that brought you to this point.
Now the commencement speakers will typically also wish you good luck and extend good wishes to you.
I will not do that, and I’ll tell you why.
From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly, so that you will come to know the value of justice.
I hope that you will suffer betrayal because that will teach you the importance of loyalty.
Sorry to say, but I hope you will be lonely from time to time so that you don’t take friends for granted.
I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either.
And when you lose, as you will from time to time, I hope every now and then, your opponent will gloat over your failure. It is a way for you to understand the importance of sportsmanship.
I hope you’ll be ignored so you know the importance of listening to others, and I hope you will have just enough pain to learn compassion.
Whether I wish these things or not, they’re going to happen. And whether you benefit from them or not will depend upon your ability to see the message in your misfortunes.
Now commencement speakers are also expected to give some advice. They give grand advice, and they give some useful tips. The most common grand advice they give is for you to be yourself. It is an odd piece of advice to give people dressed identically, but you should — you should be yourself. But you should understand what that means. Unless you are perfect, it does not mean don’t make any changes. In a certain sense, you should not be yourself. You should try to become something better.
People say ‘be yourself’ because they want you to resist the impulse to conform to what others want you to be. But you can’t be yourself if you don't learn who you are, and you can’t learn who you are unless you think about it.
The Greek philosopher Socrates said, ‘The unexamined life is not worth living.’ And while ‘just do it’ might be a good motto for some things, it’s not a good motto when it’s trying to figure out how to live your life that is before you.
And one important clue to living a good life is to not to try to live the good life. The best way to lose the values that are central to who you are is frankly not to think about them at all.
So that’s the deep advice. Now some tips as you get ready to go to your new school. Other the last couple of years, I have gotten to know many of you young men pretty well, and I know you are good guys. But you are also privileged young men. And if you weren’t privileged when you came here, you are privileged now because you have been here. My advice is: Don’t act like it.
When you get to your new school, walk up and introduce yourself to the person who is raking the leaves, shoveling the snow or emptying the trash. Learn their name and call them by their name during your time at the school.
Another piece of advice: When you pass by people you don’t recognize on the walks, smile, look them in the eye and say hello. The worst thing that will happen is that you will become known as the young man who smiles and says hello, and that is not a bad thing to start with.
You’ve been at a school with just boys. Most of you will be going to a school with girls. I have no advice for you.
The last bit of advice I’ll give you is very simple, but I think it could make a big difference in your life.
Once a week, you should write a note to someone. Not an email. A note on a piece of paper. It will take you exactly 10 minutes.
Talk to an adult, let them tell you what a stamp is. You can put the stamp on the envelope.
Again, 10 minutes, once a week. I will help you, right now. I will dictate to you the first note you should write. It will say, ‘Dear [fill in the name of a teacher at Cardigan Mountain School].’ Say: ‘I have started at this new school. We are reading [blank] in English. Football or soccer practice is hard, but I’m enjoying it. Thank you for teaching me.’
Put it in an envelope, put a stamp on it and send it. It will mean a great deal to people who — for reasons most of us cannot contemplate — have dedicated themselves to teaching middle school boys. As I said, that will take you exactly 10 minutes a week.
By the end of the school year, you will have sent notes to 40 people. Forty people will feel a little more special because you did, and they will think you are very special because of what you did. No one else is going to carry that dividend during your time at school.
Enough advice. I would like to end by reading some important lyrics. I cited the Greek philosopher Socrates earlier. These lyrics are from the great American philosopher, Bob Dylan. They’re almost 50 years old. He wrote them for his son, Jesse, who he was missing while he was on tour.
It lists the hopes that a parent might have for a son and for a daughter. They’re also good goals for a son and a daughter. The wishes are beautiful, they’re timeless. They’re universal. They’re good and true, except for one: It is the wish that gives the song its title and its refrain. That wish is a parent’s lament. It’s not a good wish. So these are the lyrics from Forever Young by Bob Dylan:
