Things that shape my life and views (Part 1)

1969 - Hiding under the bed with my mother with a parang while riots are happening outside; hated confrontation after that

1971 - Selling nasi lemak in Iskandar school; the meaning of being humble

1974 - Learning Tae Kwan Do in YMCA Ipoh; after being extorted numerous times near St Michaels School Ipoh; learning to be self dependent

1976 - Washed away by torrent water near Tanjung Rambutan water fall; seeing the feeling of despair in my fathers eyes not being able to save me. Eventually, saved by big boulder; Fear of water and respect the power of nature

1977/1978 - Math tution with Mr Ung Khek Chow and Vincent Lee; The meaning of infatuation and "real black belt" (for not memorizing formulae fast enough)

1979 - Discovering the Art of Cooking; Learning to cook and recipe of 10 ways to cook an egg for dinner (having to go overseas)

1981 - Discovering Love and patience ; meeting my future wife while giving her tution in Applied Math and Physics

1984 - Long Tired Night at Subang Airport while coming back to Malaysia, experiencing an Attempted Corruption during the Bersih Cekap Amanah campaign ; Learning the word apprehension of politican's slogan.

1987 - Going through the Economic Crisis where New Mercedes Benz were sold at half price, ATUR phones costing RM8000 were sold at 1/3rd the price to pay debts at coffee shop in Bangsar; learning the meaning of savings and debt free.

1989 - "Its better to make a decision, wrong it maybe in hindsight then not to make a decision and leave people hanging" ; Lessons in life (from my mentor Engineer) while assisting in supervising the construction of the Langkawi Jetty Complex before CHOGM.

1990 - "Doing the right things may not necessarily be right especially when done at the wrong time"; appreciating the meaning of timing and the many ways of saying "No"

1991 - Civil Engineers can design IT Network and do programming - having a degree just means you can do many wonderful things; Change in profession from Civil Engineer to IT Network Manager and Administrator

1993 - "Internet is going to be the next powerbase - here, familiarize yourself with Gopher and Mosaic" (so says Dr Mohamed Awang Lah {Father of Malaysia Internet} to some of us); first lessons on the power of the NET.

1995 - Information is power, construction of databases can be challenging when you don't have an idea of the end game ; Undertaking various IT projects while in JKR and SMPKE.

1996 - Hmmm...its quite easy to exploit this sendmail bug and stealing the /etc/passwd file - Might have a flair in Information Security ; experimenting with Security System after studying the probable method of Hack by friend Dinesh Nair.

1998 - "You may have strong opinion and want to be right all the time, but if you do that, you will be LEFT (left out of discussion)" - so says one of my mentor; lessons learn while chairing a IT Audit meeting and about negotiation.

1999 - "If you have nothing good or constructive to say, better not say anything" - while managing newsgroups in JARING ; learning the art of tact and positive enforcement.

2001 - "Some people need to be guided in the thinking process, you need to design forms for people to fill in, to start them thinking" - while doing IT Strategic Plan ; Lessons in preparation and implementation process.

2003 - "Its easy to gauge people's intelligence when they start talking and act, its when they don't say anything, then you start worrying" - while facilitating a Information Security Workshop; lessons in not talking too much.

2004 - "You cannot attain knowledge by just reading, most of the time you have to DO to expereince and understand the shortcoming" - says my ex-boss; lesson in learning and managing Technology Companies (be it in marketing on in technical)

2005 - "The difficult part is not about learning new stuff, its about unlearning all the bad habits that you already have" - says my CEO then; having been pointed out about my habit of procrastination.

Pondering....

Lessons learned while waiting in the waiting room of the Operation Theater!!!

1. No matter how old your daughter is, even at 23 years old, she is still your baby
2. That you can have something growing inside you as big as a rugby ball and you wouldn't realize it
   
3. A phone call from a friend with similar experience can be so comforting and give you so much assurance and strength that only god know how to repay (U know who you are)
4. At 49 years, time may be running out for me and I have yet to live my life to the fullest. Seize the day (after watching another patient going in for surgery at the age of 59)
5. You realize how great having a network of friends can be, they are your source of strength and comfort.
6. How fragile life can be....
7. Express your love and spend time with the one you love and care as if there is no tommorrow

I would like to express my thanks and gratitude to all my friends who had sent me SMS and made calls to me to ask about my daughter's surgery and her condition. This posting is one of the ways that I can express my feeling of gratitude to all of you.