Digital Fugue - Random Thots

Taking Risk

This post is a continuation of the post on crossroads. Most of the time when we reach a crossroad we are left with many options. While we might have vague ideas on what to expect at the other end of the road, there might be unexpected instances ahead. Perhaps obstruction, detour or maybe accidents. Perhaps we might just pass the accident... perhaps we would be IN that accident. We never know. However, what ever happens always have a reasoning behind it, for better or worst. They say every cloud has a silver lining. Remember that.

In our journey through life, we have goals to achieve. Some are easily achieveable. Others are impossible. Perhaps in our journey we might come a cross rainbows and we strive to get to that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Of course there are risks involved. There could be so much obstacles on our way. Perhaps when we get to the end the rainbow would have disappeared... washed away by the rain. Perhaps the rainbow was just a mirage. Perhaps someone else would have reached it first and bag the pot of gold for themselves (and anger the leprechauns in the process!). But we would never know if we did not take that risk in the first place.

Aizuddin wrote an inspiring piece about taking risk... a true story about a man who risked everything and found that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

We should not look at risk as a deterent to to our dreams but look at it as an obstacle that we could overcome.

Trust

Humans are complex beings. Having blessed with a powerful tool that would make them ruler of the world, they somehow indulge themselves in a plethora of complexity; the emotions, feelings, attitude and behaviour. Uncle Ben said, "with great power comes great responsibility". How true...
And responsibility is not something that everyone can bear.

Of late, there are a lot of cases that reflect the darker side of humans. the manipulation of thoughts and agendas to serve only one's needs and desires. Put money and power into the equation and the whole thing is a mushroom cloud of greed, betrayal and whatever comes in between.

How do you trust someone in a relationship and in business?

You court a girl and eventually goes steady with her, only to find out in a couple of months or years, she's been fooling around when you are not around.
You establish a friendly relationship with an individual, only to find out after all these years he's been back stabbing you and continously tarnish your reputation behind your back.
you cut a fool-proof business deal with someone and as time goes he took all you have invested and ran away.

Put two and two together, would you do business with someone who cheats on his wife?
Having had that kind of history, chances are he would, given the chance and/or opportunity, double cross you.
What's stopping from cheating on you?
Would you do business with someone knowing that he had a history in plagiarism.
What's stopping him from plagiarising your trade secrets and sell them to your competitors?

Meesh wrote an excelent post on bloggers stealing other people's blog entries and pass them off as their own.

In business I myself have seen people nick other people's proposals and pass off as their own. Once I attended a presentation by a business associate. A few slides looked all too familiar. It turned out that it was a presentation I worked on some time back, copied word by word including some grammatical error I over looked.

It is a harsh world out there... watch your back and to quote Fox Mulder, "Trust No One"

Gmail

I'd like to thank Arni for giving me a chance to have a go on Gmail!
Gmail me!

Crossroads

We bump into it almost every day. Everytime we have to make a decision wether to go straight, left or right. Sometimes we just plough through it without giving much thought. Sometimes we stop, pause and rummage through our grey matter in order to decide which path is the best. With each decision, comes great responsibility and risk. Perhaps we should take that risk. Perhaps we should avoid obvious risks.

Perhaps that path is the best... at that particular moment of time. Perhaps that left turn you should have taken could bring you to better life, better satisfaction, better fulfilment. We never know. Perhaps the risk you avoided, if you manage to overcome it would bring you better returns. We never know.

But the funny thing, you would not be what you are today if you chose the other path. If I had taken the second test for cadet pilot, I would have clocked more flying hours than driving hours. I would not have met my future wife if I had taken that path. Of course, life is funny and God always have a weird sense of humor. She might have taken another path on her own and become a flight stewardess or something and our path would somehow rendezvous. Or things would turn out completely different afterall. We never know.

When we are born into this world, we have two reference points, A at birth and Z at death. In between there is an unfathomable myriad of paths that we need to go through. It could be as easy as A to Z, or as complex as A to B to C to K to D and back to B to M to W to Z. We never know until its over. We never know.

We are all aliens

There are countless sci-fi movies, box office and B grade; TV shows; books and other form of literature about aliens invading earth. Im not talking about those big eyed Roswell flying saucer crash victims, but those aliens that latch on to human bodies, taking control of them while sucking the life out of them.

Think about it. In Islam we were thought that God created our souls before time. The souls pledged alliance to God and promised to obey God. That is until the souls started their journey into the womb and all their memory wiped out as they are born fresh into this world.

We are always being reminded that this world is temporary and we should take every opportunity to make full use out of it in order to progress in our journey to eternal life. Each one of us is an alien (to earth, that is). The souls are actually parasites that live off this human earth dweller, growing with him, manipulating natural resources as we feed on the host. They make full use of his brains for us to seek knowledge, money and power.
The time will come, when the host will have nothing else to offer, (we recognise this phenomena as death; wether instantaneous or by old age as the host began to loose its functions) the souls will continue its journey to another dimension.

When was the last time you look in the mirror and felt that you are looking at a stranger?
Have you ever asked yourself, "Is this the person i suppose to represent?"
And have you ever felt that you somehow dont belong to your body?

Questions to ponder upon as another week draws its curtain.

Death

Death... it is inevitable and yet most of us choose to ignore it. Infact in some cultures, death is depicted as taboo, bringer of bad luck etc.
According to the Human Development Report (published by United Nations Development Programme, UNDP), the average life expectancy of a typical Malaysian is about 73 years. Of course, if you look at it, 73 years is a long time (provided you didn't get hit by an on-coming vehicle while trying to avoid a pothole!). But if you translate that into weeks, that would be approximately 3,800 weeks. Now imagine how many times a week just flashed through our lives. At the rate I'm going (that is, if all goes well with my health and I don't have to go through that pot hole incident), I have approximately 2,290 weeks to go.

Why are we scared of death? It is inevitable.... it will come... everyone will experience it, no exceptions.
Perhaps we are not sure of life after death?
Perhaps we are not ready to meet the grim reaper, the angel of death?
Perhaps we have no faith in heaven and hell?
Perhaps we are scared of being reborn in a form of a cockroach?

p/s: oh yes, it is already mid week...

Driven - A Review

Driven... Not the Stalone flick, but a brilliant book by David Kiley.

Kiley writes about the most admired car maker in the world; Bavarian Motor Werke. Starting from the very beginning, he explores the company as an aircraft engine manufacturer (The BMW logo actually depicts an aircraft engine propeller against the blue bavarian sky) and thread the course of action the lead the company to become a renowned car maker. In each historical segment, he dwelve deep into each person responsible in the company. From the founders, the owners, chairmen, chief executives and the top management.

Kiley also writes about the corporate strategy of the company... the decisions that make BMW today. He also touch on advertising and people's perception of BMW; the ad agency that helped BMW get the title "The Ultimate Driving Machine", and the design of the new models, which received much criticism from enthusiasts and competitors. Then he touches on BMW's billion dollar blunder (which he aptly termed "The Ultimate Blunder") of acquiring the British Rover Group, and the corrective measures of disposing it (and the people who called the shots). Before the end, the book took a sneak peek to the future; BMW research and development of hydrogen fuel technology.

Overall it is a good case study that touches on general management, strategy and of course, BMW. I would recommend this book to anyone who is into management or anyone interested in the auto industry. In fact it is a must read if you happen to work in the auto industry.

Fiction fans need not apply.

Back from Hiatus

It is always good to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life. After toiling a busy and demotivating month which ended with the acceptance of the VSS, I decided to take a few days off from the city and head to Trengganu.

All the time, I was chilling out and indulging in sinful gastronomic delights which consist of Nasi Dagang, Keropok Lekor, Laksam and Pengat Durian.

With a huge burp and a few spare tires around the waist, I'm back and kicking in KL...
Bring 'em on!