Rule 7: Understand that wealth is a consequence, not a reward

Many things happened to me these few days. Got good and bad things but at the same time, got also in my term I called as "unpleasant things". Just by their nature; unpleasant! Whatever it is, i'm not going to let these things or problems affecting my plan. No way! I have no choice but to makesure that the masterplan I designed before will turn to be as desired.

Bought a nice book last few weeks from MPH but until now, I still can't finish it. Sigh. The problem is, I'm not only doing the normal reading process but for every sub-topics I'll do an analysis based on my knowledge. Doing the analysis requires me to think a lot and this will take longer time to completely reading the whole book. It's totally different than reading fiction novels or magazines. I just need to browse through and read at glance.

This book is entitled The Rules of Wealth by Richard Templar, the international bestselling author of The rules of Life. There are 100 rules covered in this book and divided into five chapters: Thinking Wealthy, Getting Wealthy, Get Even Wealthier, Staying Wealthy and Sharing Your Wealth. Honestly until now, I just managed to cover until Rule 7. I think I'm too slow and even slower than a snail.

Last nite when I read the Rule 7, I was so excited and already made up my mind to share this nice thought with all my blog viewers. In his 'Rule 7: Understand that wealth is a consequence, not a reward', Richard Templar came out with a nice thought and concept about making money. Below is the excerpt from the book:

"If you work hard at making money, you stand a better chance of becoming rich. You have to accept that money is a payment given to you for clever thinking and hard work. The harder and smarter you work, the more you will earn. You don't get given the money by a committee who examine whether you deserve it or not, whether you have been good enough or not. It is a direct consequence."

There are two key points here; clever thinking and hard work. By applying these two approaches in our life, I can guarantee that we will achieve all our dreams. Let us start now; stop dreaming, shift the gear to the future and stay focused. May all our dreams come true! Amen.

MATTA Fair: March, 16 -18

Got the chance to visit MATTA Fair in PWTC last Saturday. Honestly, I have been waiting for this event since last year; not because I have excitement to travel but just my interest to have a look and make comparison between prices and what the travel operators offer.

As expected, PWTC was packed with numerous numbers of visitors and hardly to find empty parking space. Luckily, I got a space by the road side; at the road shoulder actually. No parking fee and even better, it was quite near to the entrace from Seri Pacific hotel.

The organizer still maintain the entrance fee of RM 3 per person (adult) and we were given all the brochures, pamphlets etc together with a green bag. We started with a quick tour in Hall 3 (domestic/inbound) and proceeded to the Hall 1 & 2 located across the contaminated Klang River in Jalan Ipoh. These 2 halls were allocated for outbound operators; mostly focused on China ( from my observation). Yeah, Chinese community is the major target by the organizer as they always travel in groups and more willing to spend their money for travelling compared to Malays. For most Malays, travelling isn't their priority and considered as something luxurious. If they have extra money to spend for travelling, they will choose to perform Umrah (little Hajj) in Mecca and Madinah. Unless they have more money to spend, then only they consider to travel elsewhere. Else, hi hi bye bye to the travel operators.

Honestly, I really wish to travel somewhere this year and actually the place was identified earlier; Europe (London-Paris-Amsterdam). I got my relative who married to an Englishman staying there and I have a close friend who's working there too. So, accommodation is no longer an issue. Just need some cash to spend there for foods etc. When I checked the ticket price during MATTA Fair, return tickets to London will cost me around RM 3K. Royal Brunei is slightly cheaper but have to transit for 10 hours in Bandar Seri Begawan. Ohh, I'm too far from my initial intention for this posting. J

I spent few hours walking around and asking questions and feel so guilty to the one whom accompanied me. Sorry yea! Too many questions to ask though I can't afford it. To me, having information in hand is very important for future planning. Who knows what will happen in the future, rite?? From now on, I'll double my effort and work harder to get more cash and extra money to travel. Pray hard and work smart.

For those who missed the chance to visit this MATTA Fair, don't worry cos another round will be held in September (if I'm not mistaken). You can update yourself from this URL; http://www.matta.org.my

Let us travel together, enjoy to the fullest and make ourselves free from our irrational, irritating and bossy bosses!!

Bridge To Terabithia

I dunno what happen to me last week. Was very lazy to blogging but I think that was resulted from too much of thinking and strategise on uncertain things. Well, uncertain things can become certain too. Just a matter on how we handle and manage them. I'm thinking too much maybe!

Watched this fantacy movie early last week but only manage to update my blog today. Not a big deal as this movie is still on show in most popular cinemas in Klang Valley. I'm not too late then.

Bridge to Terabithia, another movie by Walt Disney is a fantasy and adventure story of true friendship, family relationship and the power of imagination of two young school kids who live next to each other. Jess Aarons (Josh Hutcherson) is an odd/isolate at school and even in his own family. He is the only son in the family and get less attention my his financially unstable parents. He always feel abandon by his parents and hardly to get attention by them compared to his other siblings especially his own cute younger sister. During the summer, Jess has trained himself hard to become the fastest kid in his class but his goal is unexpectedly thwarted by the newcomer in his class.

Unluckily, that newcomer is a girl and that really irk him. Leslie Burks (Anna Sophia Robb) is the only child for her artist parents. She overtake Jess and win the race and that really made Jess feels uncomfortably irritating. Well, I guess this is the feeling of any boys who lost the race by a girl. Haha whatelse can I say about this as guys have our own ego higher than Taipei 101 building in Taiwan! As a guy, I admit this as a genuinely true fact!

These two kids quickly become best friends as they stay next to each other, study in the same class and in the same yellow school bus. Leslie is a girl with high imagination and loves to tell stories of fantasy and magic. This is maybe because she carries the same trait as her parents. She opens the new world of imagination for Jess and always asks him to open his mind as wide as possible. At this point, I'm totally agree with her that we should open our minds and look beyond the norms. Together they create the kingdom or Terabithia, a magical and imagery place that only both of them know.

From that, they start their adventurous journey everyday after school. Jess changes tremendously in his attitude and become more positive towards life. His parents sense this and they are happy for that. At least Jess is no longer a quiet boy with no friends. There are many events and plots that take place during show and got morale to learn behind each plots. The ending is a bit sad that's what we call life. Not everything we dream to be will turn to be as our dreams.

My honest review on this movie is it's not up to my expectation as an adventurous journey of two kids in their fantasy and magical imagination. I'm expecting more but again it's just another typical fantacy movie. It should present more on the adventurous journey and the fantacies rather than focusing more on the real life. If we are looking for a real life movie that narrates on human behaviours, then this isn't the right movie to be considered. Anyway, I still enjoy the visual effects and the graphics but those are not enough and I'm excpecting more and more.

Suitable for the whole family and I think kids will enjoy this movie! Happy viewing!

Four-part of Apology Approach

Just to share about this practical approach on apology. The next time you make a mistake, apologise by this four-part apology approach. It is used to "look beyond the actual incident to the consequences made by the choice of behaviour."

It is a way to take a responsibility of the action rather then put the blame on the other person. By saying those consequences and choosing a different behaviour, "everyone remains thoughtful and supportive rather than angry and resentful".

Acknowledge

Take responsibility for your actions and behaviours by using "I" statements. For example, say,
" I acknowledge I received your email and you reminded me about this and I ignored"

Apologise
Acknowledge the "cost" of your behaviour to others. If you are unaware of the "cost", ask. For example, say,
"I apologise and I realise that you might be hurt when I scolded and yelled at you in front of public".

Make It Right
Deal with the consequences of behaviour and ask the other person what you can do to make it right. For example, say,
"What can I do to make it right? Should I admit that I always think that I'm the only one on earth who is right in everything? Or should I admit that I always blame my staffs when something goes wrong and claim it is my work when it goes right?"

Recommit
Make a commitment to appropriate behaviour and commit not to having the same behaviour again. For example, say,
"I agree to check and verify first before I blame you." Or "I agree to change my stupid, arrogant and annoying behaviors that make everyone angry and hate me".

It is good to make an apology for every mistake we commit. I hope and pray hard that the "disgusting ugly monstrous woman/man" who claims to know everything in the world can at least once in his/her lifetime practices this four-part apology approach. Let the time witnesses the miracle!

More and More Movies

I would say that last week was my movie week. It was the first time I watched six movies in a week; each movie for each day. I guessed it was resulted from my boredom and lost interest of many things. I really don't know; lost my focus, no direction and de-motivate. Anyway, let me recap and summarize these four movies; here they are:

It's a Wonderful Life

This Cantonese comedy movie is about Thunder, a God who likes to boast and use his intelligence to help innocent people. One day, he was reminded by his girlfriend, the Saint of Nine Heaven that he had pledged his guardianship to a fat boy that he had saved thirty years ago. The boy will face the end of his life on New Year's Eve and it is now the time for Thunder to fulfill his pledge to resolve the boy's trouble.

Thunder arrives in the human world and disguises as Don's cousin. Thunder lends his magical powers to Don without Don's knowledge. Suddenly, everything is going Don's way, while Thunder without magical powers is hit with a streak of bad luck, both causing havoc with comedic consequences. Meanwhile, Thunder also tries to help Don's family and Fon feel in love with him. Meanwhile, Thunder finally gets to know Brad's evil plan which will put Don to his doom. But at the same time, the Emperor of Heaven along with the other Gods comes down to the human world to arrest Thunder.

I'd say that this is one of many stupid movies I ever watched and a bit regretful. Not worth to spend RM10 for this 2 hours movie.

Norbit

This is another very funny movie by Eddie Murphy. This guy really knows how to make us laughing all the while. So cool!! Eddie Murphy plays the role as a meek guy who is pressed into marrying a monstrous woman. When he subsequently meets the woman of his dreams, he has to figure out a way to be with her.

Well, nothing much to expect from this movie as I expected many slapsticks jokes and humours. The values portrayed are not so suitable for kids.

Protégé

This is another Cantonese film I watched last week. It is about a well-intentioned narcotics agent, Nick (Daniel Wu) deep undercover on the lucrative heroin trade in Hong Kong. He is forced to deal with the hypocrisy and despair in a life of drugs and crime, as he plays protégé to one of the key players of the game, "Banker" (Andy Lau). In the eight years he has been infiltrating the heroin industry, he finds himself corrupted by the easy money and his new found power. Unable to separate himself from his undercover persona, he immerses himself into his role as a drug trafficker.

Nick also meets Jane (Zhang Jing Chu), a single mother living in poverty who has fallen prey to the dangerous narcotics that has also claimed her estranged husband (Louis Koo). Her brief affair with Nick, gave her hope for a new life, an escape from the past, but the re-emergence of her husband brings with it some dire consequences.

My comment for this movie is worth to watch and got its own values. Though many say that we shouldn't watch movie for values but I think sometimes we can indirectly learn many things and understand our society better by watching movies. Now, I can imagine how hard to be a uniform guy. Thanks to our genuine cops for ensuring the stability of the country.

Dreamgirls

Dreamgirls is a movie about three close friends from Chicago; Effie White, Deena Jones, and Lorrell Robinson who form a singing trio called The Dreamettes. Accompanied by their songwriter C.C. White (Effie's brother), they travel to New York to compete in a talent show at the Apollo Theatre. Although the girls lose this first bid for fame, their talent attracts an ambitious manager by the name of Curtis Taylor, Jr., who uses unscrupulous tactics to move the girls from backup singers of superstar James "Thunder" Early to superstars of their own.

Well, I enjoyed all the songs in this movie; superb vocals. Who says Beyonce can't act??

I'm looking forward to watch other nice upcoming movies like Bridge to Terabithia (showing now) and few others to be listed here. Sometimes, it's not all about the movie. I just need a good time for myself or maybe better if I say that I'm on my movie therapy!

Music and Lyrics

Oh yea, another movie in my list to share with you guys. Two movies in two consecutive nights; doesn't it sounds cool, huh? Maybe to cover back those movies that I should been watching in last two weeks. What to do as AOR has only lousy cinemas like old Cathay, Capitol and Metrowealth and I won't ever spend my money in those cinemas. No way!

Okay, let me introduce the movie I watched last night in GSC One Utama; Music and Lyrics. This romantic comedy movie is mainly about Alex Fletcher (Hugh Grant), a washed-up 80's pop singer who is no longer in the spotlight and glittering world. In order for him to maintain his life, he is doing shows in county fairs and amusement parks. Apart from that, he is a very talented and charismatic musician.

His life starts to be in sparkling again and he gets a chance to make comeback when a young pop diva and a rising star, Cora Corman (Haley Bennett) invites him to compose and record duet with her. His problem is he hasn't composed songs for many years and he never write any lyrics before but Cora needs a hit song in a very short notice. Since this is a romantic movie, we can't run away from the typical storyboard; the presence of a girl to complement the character of the hero.

Here it comes the character Sophie Fisher starred by Drew Barrymore, who used to be a plant lady in Alex's apartment, whose flair for words. She then writes the lyrics for Alex and they work closely to each other in order to write a hit song for Cora. Throughout the movie, there are scenes and plots to show how the feeling in both of them grows. It's very nice as both of them got the chemistry, a term in relationship dictionary to describe how close and click they are.

There are a few supporting characters in this movie like Rhonda, Sophie's sister, Sloan Cates, a famous novelist that used to be Sophie's sweetheart before but the character that really makes me smiling is Alex's manager, Chris Rilley (Brad Garrett). If you ever watch Everybody Loves Raymond, you will absolutely familiar with Brad Garrett as he is Raymond's brother in the series.

For those who are in cloud nine in their relationship especially those who just get married and happy couples, I'm strongly encourage you all to watch this movie but for those who are not belong to both categories also can watch this movie as it's just nice for everyone. I'd say it's an entertaining movie; really enjoy the two hours show. Not to forget, the songs are nice and soothing.

Well, relationship needs commitment and the commitment comes from both parties. It cannot be one hand to clap and making sound. Both are complementing each other just like Music and Lyrics are meant for each other to produce a nice and perfect melody.