#4 Tough Lucks

 It is in the middle of the night. The distant dogs barking break the silence of the night and I am half awake from my semi-sleeping mode, yet again. All of a sudden, there is a sudden urge from me to hit the keyboard.

Recently, my new-found hobbies – humming to musics (Indirectly singing) and writing a blog have increasingly form one formidable part of my life.


If that is not enough, a feisty downhill ride along the park during weekends further embellish my ratherly one-track ho-hum lifestyles. [Muffled laughing in background]

Great, my lifestyles sound good once again and it appear to hit the ground as ever as I could. Whatever it is, no matter what that happens, I felt that, in the end we are always trying to find ways to make our lives more interesting, regardless of what it takes, isn’t it?

All in all, my final examinations have just concluded a few days ago. I remembered during the final day of the examination, as the clock strikes half five and once all of us walked out of the examination hall, there is a big commotion that reverberated in the crowd-packed alley outside the hall’s entrance, produced by a mixture of laughters and clamours.

These situations, which are understandable, because, after all, the efforts and hard works that being put into a single subject over the whole course of the semester have finally paid off, provided it produce excellent results for students.

As for me, I have little comment about my own performance in the final examinations (but I will touch a little bit later on) except for the ways I handled myself when dealing with the peoples around me during the past six months. The thorn in the flesh is that people close to me can spot the noticeable difference in me for the past few months where I rarely talk to the others and always seem to isolate myself.

Not to mention, no thank to the bizarre ‘disease’ which culminates in the form of me today. Ironically, I always dream of turning myself back into the original version of me where I can often poke fun at the others seamlessly and pull the rabbit out of the hat in front of an enthusiastic crowd.

Being involved in a self-exile is not fun as I could not often muster enough courage to speak up what is in my minds. Therefore, it is no surprise to see me partaking various outdoor and community activities today just to forget my previous transgressions as being actively involved with the society provides a good sense of relaxation and state of mind at times.

While my fall from grace in the space of this six months has become a laughing stocks in the eye of certain individuals, I have always face the torrid time and take them as a challenge. Believe it or not, who knows if these obstacles may be the blessings in disguise?

The positives is, there is always a remedy to every problem that arises, as long as we could grab the chances to find out the roots of the problem and find the right solutions for it.

    

When I recently tuned in to a radio programme I heard the radio deejay interviewing a popular actor famous for his outstanding acting skills as well as his flamboyant lifestyles in the entertainment industry back in the 80s about what makes a person happy in his life, his reply was a profound statement which I would not have expected. Replying with short yet succint words, he said in a serious tone:

‘ The best things in life is to live the moment ’

The actor admitted that while everyone will make mistakes in their lives, he argued that we cannot become too engrossed with our past failures and have too much anxiety about the future, which is exactly what I mentioned before in a blog post. (See #3 Think Positives, Embrace with Open Minds)

He cited an example by saying when a person is talking to another person, if his mind is too preoccupied with something else, then he is not enjoying the moment he is living in. I could not help but agreed to his phrases absolutely.

In reality, life is just too short for us to think too much about irrelevant bygone matters of the past and future, the key to attaining happiness in life is to enjoy whatever we are doing right now. I remembered I read something like this;

‘ For every thing that happens, there must be a reason behind it ’.

     

Looking back at the gremlins in the past six months, here is among the four reasons that things have gone so sour for me.

1.      Lack of motivation

For starters, I must admit that I have endured the most difficult period of time in my entire life. To add insult to injury, I chose to keep mum the whole incident and the prolonged nightmare just crawls deeper and deeper. 

While lacking in certain aspects of our lives are tolerable, lacking in motivation is what that metters most. When a person gets demotivated, the fear of failure arises and the driving force that usually spur us on evaporated. In the space of justt six months, my life took a nosedive transforming me from the ever present hot-fire sword-wielding warrior to an ice-cold nimrod.

2.      Lost of directions

At the age of 10, I told my primary school teachers that I aspire to become a civil engineer when I grow up. That ambition appear to have materialised at the halfway mark given that I am currently an undergraduate civil engineering student in a local university. 

But the story took a dramatic turn when I find myself clinging amidst the mid-air as if a bird flying aimlessly without knowing where it wanted to be. Just to mention an example, I always have legitimate A’s scoring ambitions in all my academic subjects. That aspiration remains valid prior to the final examinations which has taken place a few days ago given that I scored a considerably high internal assessment marks for all four subjects I have taken, an average of almost 40 out of 50 marks for each subjects

However, my inability to identify what I really want most of times coupled with some blunders in the exam have compromised the chances in the process. On top of that, what makes a more tantalising prospect is I may have to settle for a meagre outcomes of four B’s (CGPA: 3.0) , a stark contrast to the same period last year where I scored an average of 3.6 something in CGPA. Judging by my own standards, this semester’s results could have hit the all-time low.

3.      Dr Vincent and Mr Ti

In psychology, every mind is split into two parts – The kind nature and the dark side. Of course, I am not a psychologists nor I have any background knowledge in the subject but I do believe there is always a divider that distinguish between the kind an evil nature in a person. For my own fall, I perceive that the ‘Mr Ti domains’ have taken over the fairer side within me. (Laughing)

*P/S: The above statements are entirely my personal opinions and are not extracted from any scholary articles. It serves as a reference for this article only.

4.      PR fiasco

While good interpersonal and communication skills are among the paramount of requirements to deal effectively with the people around us today, I failed miserably in this aspect. When we talk less, we become more inept and slowly and slowly, we find ourselves feeling more reluctant to utter any word when the opportunity of a conversation with someone else come along.

As we grow older, we gain knowledges and know about our strengths and weaknesses. The reasons that I mentioned the downside I had endured is certainly not to magnify my weaknesses to the whole world but to serve as a reminder to all of us that we can go from strength to strength if we can learn and improve from our mistakes even when the worst crisis strikes. Because in the end, whatever the outcomes is, we are the one who face the consequences of our every own actions.

By: Vincent Ti

#3 Think Positives, Embrace with Open Minds

Have good mindsets, forget about the pasts and focus on the future and you will reap the rewards later

     Prior to the writing of this column, I occasionally had some sleepless nights. After decided upon to have this column published to my blog week in, week out, my sleepless nights woes exacerbated. 

This is not purely because my minds keep thinking of what to write in my next column when I pull under the cover on my bed but due to the fact that I have been receiving a deluge of feedbacks from my friends about my previous blog post recently which has taken a toll in my sleeping habits. Granted, there are some good and bad comments over the period and while I find some praising comments quite pleasing which definitely serve as a springboard to spur me on, some criticizing comments have been a forgettable one. 

The tasks of maintaining a blog post consistently does not seem as easy as it look. For my case, it requires extreme dedication and commitment to write a column in addition to handling my routine affairs.

In our daily lives, we have ups and downs. While we often have no choice to determine our own destiny, we are fortunate enough to be able to choose the right path in our lives which eventually bear fruits. Of course, it still depends on whether we take up the so-called ‘right’ pathway or ‘wrong roads’ in our lives. 

Yes, you would argue that no one would like to choose the latter should chances permit. Yes, fully understood. But why not we choose to calm down and contemplate what goes wrong to see if any improvements can be made even in the worst circumstances? No?

When we do mistakes, we often get reprimanded and when we do the right things, little do we see the source of compliment come arising. As a matter of fact, we are trained to learn from mistakes and not to repeat the failure again in the future. Our minds are constantly being wired to handle even the world’s biggest problems. Unfortunately, many of us break down in the midst of shenanigans.

In a 10 km long marathon race, Runner A could jog past all his opponents effortlessly and cross the finishing line in the shortest time due to his physical advantages. In stark contrast, Runner B, who lags behind the others most of the time could only watch helplessly the distant runners in front of him to get further and further away while those lag behind him are starting to play catch up. 

However, despite his measurable disadvantages compared to the others, he is determined to run till the finishing line and he believes that as long as he keeps running, he still stand a chance to win the marathon until the real winner emerges. Runner A, however, would have his winning opportunity compromised if he thinks that he is impossible to be beaten. 

The moral of this story is not to educate us that complacency will cost us and sheer determination to work on things would definitely lead us to glory. Having confidence and self-belief does not guarantee success but if one lacks the self-belief, certainly the downward spiral is inevitable.

Also, the more we take things for granted, the more we lose. This is simply because we do not value things enough, we tend to neglect our own responsibilities which eventually cost us dearly. Because we have too much of regrets and could not forget our past failures, we get embroiled in a dire situation which hampered every single opportunity to take us a step forward. At the same time, when we have too much of anxiety of our future, we stay at the same point where we belongs.

As clearly as I can remember, I used to be severely traumatised by even the slightest enigma and details. Back then, I was always afraid if something bad will happen to myself (which we called anxiety) and constantly reminded myself to be extra careful with my words. As a result, I dare not to deal with people effectively as I ever could, which has severely land a massive blow to my personal self-confidence. 

As time passes, I would constantly reflect at what I have did or spoken to others although all the time I was not doing anything out of ordinary (which we called ‘could not forget about past happenings’). Sound strange? 

Okay, let me tell you the answers. In other words, I had a mild depression. During those time, I was like living in a world of my own as if nobody could reach his hand to pull me out of the h*** gate. Recovering from a state of mental depression is not as easy as swallowing a dosage of cough medicine. It certainly takes time to re-adjust your mental state slowly and tell yourself you just can do it. A few of the measures that I opted for are think positives, have good mindsets and embrace with open minds.

Most often, when we do mistakes, we point the finger to the others just to sway away the blames to make ourselves feel better. The move is almost identical to a harakiri manoeuvre as in the end, we learn nothing. As I mentioned earlier, I am not someone who can offers that sort of best advices when things turn awry but I must say that one of the most vital ingredients to become a happier person is to stay positives. 

Surely, being successful it is not that staying positives at all time that enough. It requires consideration in several other aspects as well. The world keep changing and if we cannot adjust ourselves to fit into the society then we will only take a step backward and witness the others around us improve and prosper.

By: Vincent Ti

#2 Mercedes Benz S Class W222 launched in Malaysia

     For an automative buff like me, hearing the news of an imminent launching of a new car model is already tempting enough. After the long anticipation, the latest flagship of the Mercedes Benz S Class finally made its debut in Malaysia last month. Among the three other variants  available are the S 500, S 63 AMG as well as the S 400 petrol.

The S 400 Hybrid, which is powered by a 3.5 litre V6 CGI engine as found in the S 350 CGI, with 306 hp at 6,500 rpm and 370 Nm and 3,500 to 5,250 rpm; it is paired with a 27 hp and 250 Nm electric motor integrated between the engine and the 7G-Tronic Plus gearbox. Performance figures include a 0-100 km/h time of 6.8 seconds, a 250 km/h top speed and a combined fuel consumption of 6.3 litres per 100 km.

The S 500 wears a 4.6 litre V8 offering 455 hp at 5,250 rpm and 700 Nm at 1,800 to 3,500 rpm, and it will manage to get to 100 km/h from standstill in 4.8 seconds, with combined fuel consumption rated at 8.6 litres per 100 km. As for the S 63 AMG, its 5.4 litre V8 is good for 585 hp and 900 Nm, and it’ll do the century dash in 4.4 seconds.

The Malaysian W222 will get LED Intelligent Light System headlamps as standard, and likewise, a 590-watt, 13-speaker Burmester Surround Sound audio system is fitted in place of the base 10-speaker system. The S 400 Hybrid will be equipped with an Airmatic suspension, while the S 500 will come with Magic Body Control. The system – an option for eight-cylinder models, but ticked for the Malaysian model – adjusts the hydraulic suspension automatically in anticipation of uneven terrain. The interior features a double screen instrumentation binnacle design, with 12.3-inch high resolution TFT screens in 8:3 aspect ratio utilised for both displays.

     
As for space, the W222 offers 12 mm extra headroom, 14 mm more shoulder room and 10 mm more elbow room for the front occupants, as well as additional 14 mm in rear knee room and 9 mm increased shoulder room for the rear occupants, despite the wheelbase dimensions remaining the same as the outgoing W221 long wheelbase model. A total of five different configurations for the rear seat are available for the V222 long wheelbase model, with the top of the line being an Executive seat, with a backrest angle adjustable by up to 43.5 degrees, allowing occupants in the rear to concentrate on work or relax in comfort. The rear seat configuration for Malaysia is a three-seater one.

     
The locally-assembled S 400 Hybrid will go for under RM900k. Pricing for the S 500, meanwhile, starts from RM1.08 million, while that for the S 63 AMG begins from RM1.6 million.

Source: http://www.paultan.org

#1 Spending Time on Things May Worth a Penny, Spending Time with Family is Priceless

It sounds easier to be said than done at times, but it certainly takes an awful lot of efforts to dedicate precious moments with our loved ones.

     There is always an everlasting old expression reminding me of the importance of our own roots. 

Living in the digital world, many of us seem to have taken the humble background that shapes us today for granted. 

Our minds are just too pre-occupied with mountainous tasks to be completed be it complicated or a simple one.  


During our free time, some of us would just routinely take out our smartphones and glide on the screen to to update our latest news to the whole world whereas certain individuals would just rely on their digital devices to kill time.

Well, I am saying these does not mean that I am an expert in self-improvement nor time management as I do, at times, did the same things that I mentioned in above. Neither do I want to to touch on the topic of time management. 

In details, the time management philosophy does not just stop here. From a neutral point of view, it is not a matter of being right or wrong if times are improperly managed but the aftermath of wasted, irreplaceable moments. Of course, you could argue that the time is yours, and it is up to you on how you can use it.

By putting everything into perspective, we could see at one point on Earth Mr X would say that  he is the CEO of a multinational company and he is leading a huge number of staffs in that firm so he could not spend enough of time with his family members. 

At the other end of the corner, another victim named Mr Y with his super-hectic schedule would lament that it is not easy to let go of the tasks assigned to him therefore finding time to have a quick sip at a cup of coffee in the  pantry is difficult, let alone walking on the beach with his family members during the weekends or spending time with them.

A famous politician once quoted  ‘A nation comes from its people, the people comes from their home’. The phrase has clearly underlined the virtue of a home to the development of a country. The social and economic developments of a country would have been impossible to survive without the support of its people, and the same saying goes where we would not be where we are today if it is not because of our home. Hitherto, it may seem to be tad bored to repeatedly stress on the value of a home brings to us, over and over again.

I always feel that no matter how busy you are, there should always be some time taken out for our family members. The idea of being too hooked up with works is nothing new. Have a think over it. It does not mean you have to fork out a hefty sum of money to make your loved ones to be happy, sometimes even a simple conversation in the living room accompanied with little care and consideration will go a long way.

By: Vincent Ti