The Fight for Malaysia’s Soul, not for BN, Not for PR.


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Good Evening guys,

I know it’s not a Friday but this one isn’t a Note on Life, it’s something much much Closer to Home.

This is Roshan ‘Arkay’ Kanesan’s Thoughts on Change, Democracy & the 13th Malaysian General Elections.

Before I start, here’s a little intro into my political views.

Me

I do not define and limit my fight for this country to a political party.

I believe in 2 things very strongly:

* “Power Corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely” – Lord Acton

* “People should not be afraid of their Governments, Governments should be

afraid of their people?” – V

which is based upon:

“When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty. ” – Thomas Jefferson

So right now my support is for Paktan Rakyat, but that doesn’t mean it will always be

like that and it sure doesn’t mean that I am going to be blinded to their faults. I will support PR for as long as their struggle and long-term goal aligns with my fight for Malaysia. I will not define myself as a BN supporter, nor a PR Supporter. I’m just a Malaysian.

Now,

The 13th Malaysian General Elections

On the 5th of May 2013 I was one of about 10 million Malaysians that went out to the polls to vote. My first time and i was part of the biggest turnout in Malaysian history and also one of the biggest turn outs in modern history… 80%.

Many people wanted change. The urbanites, the younger generation, the first time voters.

However Barisan Nasional (BN) won.

There’s been a lot of noise of foul play and following that it has been concluded

that 5/5 was the date that Democracy Died in Malaysia because apparently our votes didn’t count.

Foul Play

I don’t want to dwell too much into fraud here. Yes, it does indeed look like fraud

was a foot. I’m not condoning it, but I also ask you if fraud is exclusive to Malaysia?

They way some people are talking it sounds like electoral fraud doesn’t happen anywhere else but Malaysia.

I would like to ask this question. What happened in the U.S. Elections of 2000, Bush vs Al Gore? There was foul play there as well, wasn’t it?

So when Malaysians say that GE13 was the dirtiest election ever in the world and democracy died here, I beg that these people think for a moment, before making such statements. Fraud happens in many elections worldwide and so does gerrymandering, so just because BN won, it doesn’t mean that this was the dirtiest elections ever.

And even after all that, Pakatan Rakyat:
still made progress,
still made inroads,
strengthened their hold on Penang,
strengthened their hold on Selangor,
took a further 7 Parliamentary seats from BN.

And Barisan Nasional:
has become even more unpopular,
lost more parliamentary seats,
lost more State Seats (collectively)
and didn’t come close to getting back their beloved 2/3 majority.

What does that tell you?

To me it shows that fraud is not enough to stop the WILL of the People, it’s just that

we didn’t have enough strength this time around to counter the trump cards that BN had up their sleeve. Sabah. Sarawak. Johor.

The Rural Vote.

The major support for Change was mostly urban, that’s NOT ENOUGH.

It is the rural areas that have the most influence. KL, Selangor and Penang do not accurately represent the rest of the country.

Jointly Sarawak, Sabah and Johor have 82 Parliamentary seats and BN won 68 as opposed to the total of 46 seats for Penang, Selangor and KL, in which PR won 36.

BNs stronghold has almost twice the number of seats than PRs stronghold.

What does this tell you?

It tells me that over the next 5 years PR has serious work to do in the rural areas.

Those are the areas that will bring the real Tsunami. The urban votes alone won’t get PR into Putrajaya.

Change

For those who are saying that change didn’t happen? Are you defining change by a change in government? If you are, I’m so sorry but you’ve got the plot wrong.

Forget BN, Forget PR, Forget Najib, Forget Anwar.

We aren’t fighting for a political party; we’re fighting for Malaysia’s soul.

Malaysia’s soul is US.

Friends, Malaysians, Countrymen.

Change should not be defined by the changing of government but off the Change in the mindset of the People.

So don’t say Change hasn’t happened – it has.

It started in 2008 and has continued growing. Many of us are more actively involved in politics. More of us have become Political Citizens and the numbers will only continue growing.

And this leads me to:

Democracy

I’ve seen many posting on Facebook & Twitter that democracy has died,

and this annoys me,

extremely.

Democracy died a long time ago, it was dead before GE12, when most people didn’t care about elections, or voting or politics, and assumed that BN would just go on ruling Malaysia.

Then 2008 happened and for the first time in decades we saw BN lose their 2/3 majority. We saw PR take two juggernaut states away from BN. We saw that our votes could make a difference. We saw change that day. We saw the rebirth of Democracy in Malaysia. We saw the beginning of the Fight for Malaysia’s soul.

I respect every individual’s political stance and opinion but if you come and tell me that Democracy is dead now, then we have a problem.

It shows that you’re just following the trend of the hour, a mere follower.

Yes, on Sunday we saw democracy get hurt and abused but it’s still alive and ready to continue the fight through fighters like Karpal and Kit Siang.

Look at how long have they been fighting? How many loses have they suffered?

Have they given up? Did they sit around and feel sorry for themselves when a setback hit them? So why do I hear so many people whining?

I’ve learnt firsthand that feeling sorry for myself never got anything done.

So lets stop the noise, stop the complaining, stop the whining and go out and help out with the cause you believe in. Because Democracy can never die as long as there are people who still BELIEVE.

So to conclude,

PR Lost.

Get over it.

This isn’t a battle, this is a War for Malaysia’s Soul,

Not for BN. Not for PR.

What’s important is that we DON’T GIVE UP because one battle was lost,

What’s most important is that PR stay strong, united and grow.

What’s most important is that we, the People, Keep Moving Forward.

Democracy cannot die as long as there are people who believe in it.

As for me,

I will not be mourning.

I’m going to celebrate the progress and the inroads that PR has made,

And see how I can actively help,

I will not change my profile picture.

Well, because I like my current one,

I still believe in Democracy,

I still believe in Malaysia.

How about you?

Straight From The Heart

Roshan ‘Arkay’ Kanesan

Friends. Malaysians. Countrymen. – Tomorrow We Vote


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Friends. Malaysians. Countrymen. Tomorrow we vote..

Who you vote for or whether you vote or not is you choice, either action is your right. Just remember this. Whoever it is you vote for, make sure that you are true with your vote. If you vote for change remember that with change comes resistance and if you vote for stability, remember that absolute power corrupts absolutely and no improvement or greatness was ever achieved by colouring within the lines.

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Tomorrow is big day for Malaysians and Malaysia.
People in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s 60s 70s etc will be heading to the polls for their first time.

Tomorrow we are all equal.

Tomorrow we fight for what we think is right.

Whatever happens tomorrow, be vigilante, vote and be safe. If a storm comes we will brace it for every storm eventually comes to an end.

But whatever it is, don’t so anything stupid. Stay out of hot spots, don’t antagonise and keep calm.

I’m not a BN supporter. I’m not a PR Supporter.
I am Support the Rakyat. I am Pro-Rakyat.

Sidenote: don’t sit around and complain if you can vote and aren’t going to vote.

Straight From The Heart

Roshan ‘Arkay’ Kanesan

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Being Busy Being Busy @CoffeaCoffeeMY


Busy Being Busy.jpgGood evening Ladies and Gents,

I’m back at Coffea today, with a Madonna Flat White next to me, my iPad in front of me and my thoughts bouncing around in my head.

Today’s posts is later than usual because my morning was a little difficult, had the worst morning to date for the year; pain, disorientation, stiffness, the works. My Fibro was not kind to me this morning, still feeling the effects now, especially Head wise, my head’s feeling foggy and really heavy, but that wasn’t going to stop me from posting today, though if my pain, muscle ache and stiffness didn’t get better i would have stayed at home and taken the ‘Day Off‘.

Anyway, on to today’s post.

“Being Busy Being Busy” Robin Sharma

“In the corporate world, I had been so busy being busy, I never had time to think about life. And yet reflection and contemplation are among the most important of all business skills. I’ve since realised that in this informations-led world we live in, ideas are the commodity of success and the most effective people are the most effective thinkers”
– Leadership Wisdom from the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari – The 8 Rituals of the Best Leaders by Robin Sharma –

As i mentioned earlier this week, or the end of last, i started reading again, and this quote popped right out at me, it describes quite accurately how i feel about this subject.

Generally, we are just too busy nowadays. Running around doing all sorts of things. And a lot just for the sake of doing something to help us feel like we’re not wasting our time.

At one point last year i used to think that being busy meant that i was being productive. I used to plan out my days so that they were filled with ‘things to do’ and once the day was done i wouldn’t feel like the day was wasted.

Then one day, i read something by Robin Sharma, not the quote above, in which he mentioned Being Busy Being Busy which shattered the illusion in which i was living in.

I thought back to some of those “productive” days that i had and really thought about them.

1. What did i achieve that day?
2. What did i really do?
3. Did i really do anything productive or really get anything done?
4. Did i stretched a task just so that I would use up more time?
5. How much of that time did i spend hanging out?

I realised coming home tired some how signalled to me that i had a busy day, which then signalled that it was a productive day, but now it’s a little different.

I realised that much of the time I was also busy being Distracted. Focus and a sense of direction was lacking.

Now before i go on, let me elaborate a little about my view on Productivity. Productivity isn’t the same thing for everyone, it’s all down to our own Personal Productivity.

Here’s an excerpt from me previous piece.

Personal productivity is getting things done that are important to you, that will help get you closer to where you want to be. It’s about not wasting your time, potential and life. Not all things that are considered productive may be productive to you, hence the importance of personal productivity. Look at reading, most people consider it a productive way to spend time, but I really don’t think that is true. Reading for entertainment is not generally productive, it’s entertainment and too much of it is a waste of time. Of course reading is the most productive of the entertainment mediums but if you want to be productive, there Erne other more effective ways. If you want to go into business, then read the biographies of great businessmen, “have a cup of tea with them”. Do not let the common perception of reading make it seem that all books are productive, plenty of them aren’t, especially now days. – Roshan ‘Arkay’ Kanesan

Being Busy is not necessarily Being Productive.

“Let’s stop glorifying over-work, and start congratulating smart work. The truly brilliant people in the world are those that elegantly balance a heavy-workload and the rest of their life. They’re also the most satisfied.

This industry is a race, but it’s not a sprint. It’s a marathon, one that I hope to be running for a very long time.” – Andrew Dumont

A good way to feel like the day hasn’t been wasted it to set daily goals. These goals are much better gauges of how productive a day has been. It’s not about how much time you spend doing it but about getting the result that’s in Alignment with the your Grand Scheme of Things (unless of course you’re goal is a specific time related goal – read 1 hour).

Focus on what matters to you, whether you want to be a footballer, business tycoon, a parent, or whether it is to live a healthy life, fun life,etc . Know what you want and make sure most of your actions are in line. Why do I say most? Well because we’ve got to have time to kick back and do others things so that life don’t become stale and monotonous. Anyway, in order to really know what you should be doing, you have to be aware of what you want, you need to achieve clarity of your desires. And that requires of lot of thinking and personal time. Only you can know what you truly want, what your goals, dreams and ambitions are. Of course there’s no harm “consulting” others for advice,either be conversing or reading about the people you respect, what I like to refer to as mentors. They will help provide additional knowledge, guidance and wisdom to help you achieve Clarity and Awareness. But REMEMBER, that doesn’t mean you need to follow them exactly and become a copy of them. Learn from them, don’t copy them. There are plenty of productivity sites with plenty of tips, you have to be able to see what you need and what will work and not try everything and anything you can read. Find a set that works for you’d and follow through on them and once you’re comfortable and consistent, then maybe you want to add-on and modify your current Personal Productivity M.O. The foundation of all this is knowing YOUR goals, dreams and ambitions. Only then will you when you are wasting time and when you are making the best use of it – Roshan ‘Arkay’ Kanesan

I’ve been incorporating this into my life nowadays, (though not all because i do have my Days Off and then there are days that the Fibromyalgia messes up my morning which makes my day a little more difficult – like today) and find that i feel way more satisfied with myself after a day of completed daily goals or even 80% completed daily goals because it’s all so much clearer to me.

I find that when i follow these things, i’m more satisfied with my days and weeks because i’m not just trying to fill up time. I guess you could relate it to Working Smart. I find that i don’t feel guilty about watching more TV or hanging out, if i find myself regularly completing my daily goals.

This concept of using daily goals also ties in to the concept of building momentum through Small Daily Improvements and Making Today Better Than Yesterday.

The best way to get started is to take sometime to think about how the last day and then the last week has been. Did it feel productive? Was the busyness of it all proportional to what was achieved? Do you feel satisfied?

Then get to making daily goals first thing in the morning, or better yet the night before before going to bed.

Now daily goals are just the beginning, in order to ensure that your more productive days are tying in to the Grand Scheme of Things. Scale things up by having:

1. Weekly Goals

2. Monthly Goals

3. Quarterly Goals

4. Annual Goals

5. 5 Year Goals

6. So on. (10 year, 15 year….)

This is a system that builds on each other, so we need to make sure the foundation and ground work is strong, you need to take the time to think.

The shorter term goals feed into the longer term goals and ensure that you are in line with your dreams. Keep in mind Personal Productivity.

So with something as simple as daily goals, what we are doing is breaking down the steps to achieve the Bigger Goals that will lead to our dreams.
I cannot emphasise how important it is to attain Clarity which requires us to take the time to think, to reflect.

Have great dreams but have simple, one-step-at-a-time goals to help you reach your dreams. Dreams are what you want, goals define and break down the steps to help you get there.

Sidenote: Before i sign off, i’d like to apologise if the writing seems messy and not as organised as the weeks before, Fibro made my mind feel messy & cluttered this week, especially today. I will work on making sure that next Friday’s post is more organised and clear.

Please do let me know what you think.

Straight From The Heart

Roshan ‘Arkay’ Kanesan

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Communication Etiquette v Being Connected @CoffeaCoffeeMY


Good afternoon guys, It’s a Friday which means 2 things. The weekend is back and I’m at Coffea 🙂

I’ve been thinking and discussing quite a bit about Distractions after last weeks post and how it relates to communication and phones, how they can relate and react, and whether we always need to set the phone away in the presence of others.

Last Weeks Arkay’s Thoughts Distraction post was focused on focus, about the lack of focus and some of the factors involved and how to deal with it. It wasn’t specifically about communication issues regarding phones/gadgets etc and the development of Communication Etiquette.

So today, I’m going to follow up on Distractions and talk about Communication Etiquette v Being Connected.

Communication Etiuqette

This courtesy applies more to specific Active Human Interactions.
Having a one-on-one conversation with someone (ESPECIALLY)
1. Out for dinner with people
2. Participating in an Active Group session
3. When we are doing something with someone

Essentially, if we are participating in something, Actively Participating, we should give our full focus, attention and interest and not look at your phone every time is buzzes or beeps;

Exclusions
1. an important contact has messaged or called

Exclusions in a Group
1.We explicitly expressed that we are going to do our own thing
2. We are not presently Actively Engaged in conversation/activity
3. Once every 20/30 minutes or so.

The Lepak/Hanging Out Scenario

In this sort of situation it depends on the group, we know the people we hang out with, so we should know whether they are particular about this. Here are some of my views here.
1. It’s generally ok to use the phone/gadget, if we are just sitting around not doing anything; this is the Doing My Own Thing but with People Scenario
2. If a conversation is going on and we really have no interest or viewpoint, then go ahead and use the phone/gadget, this will also signal to the others that this doesn’t interest us as much and that we are possibly feeling left out
3. We don’t have to be Always On and participate in all conversation or activities, its ok to take a few minutes for ourselves and do our own thing.
4. Generally applies to when people get together for no particular purpose
a. University – We see each other almost everyday so there are times when we have nothing to say, but would rather just sit in the company of each other and do our own thing rather than go home
b. Home – with regards to people that often & regularly come over, we don’t have to engaged for every minute, if there are 4 people and 2 are playing FIFA, then either talk to the 3rd person (which would be the polite thing), but if the 3rd person is engrossed in watching the other 2 play FIFA, then by all means take out the phone/gadget and reply that message or plan tomorrow or read whatever it is you read on your phone so that you don’t waste that 10/15minutes. We’re not Actively Engaged.
c. Mamak/Lepak – in a situation where we meet friends/family outside, then we should really keep the phone away unless it’s important, we’ve come out to HangOut with each other, so do that, don’t go online and read Facebook or Twitter, we can do that at home. Don’t take Silence as the license to whip out the phone. Just don’t. Quiet doesn’t mean that it’s time to distract ourselves with other things. There was an INTENT to hangout with each other, so do that, whether it’s staring at each others faces or talking. The problem with taking out the phone at first ‘sight’ of Silence, is that it sigals to others that maybe we don’t want to talk, it shows disinterest, (remember there are exclusions), we know each other, so talk about something, or be in collective quiet, don’t Excuse yourself from the Present Moment by engaging with the phone/gadget.
Exclusions include:
1.Important Call/Message
2.Taking out phone to show people at the table something
3.Collectively engaging in an activity/game on the phone – you are still doing something together.

Games

Now with regards to games, they should not be played when with others unless related to The Lepak Scenario Point #4.1 & #4.2. Don’t play that game on the phone unless you have already Explicitly stated that you would like to do your own thing or if everyone is in the mood to do their own thing, which means that there are no Active Elements in play.

I personally don’t like to compete for the attention of the people I am Actively Hanging Out with.

Frequency

Now this point, similar Exclusions in a Group Point #3, is about how often we check our phones. If we really need to keep tabs on our phone notifications, especially in a one-on-one scenario, let’s attempt to keep it to every 20/30 minutes. The aim is to ensure minimal distraction from our gagdets whe in Active Scenarios.

Essentially

it comes down to Intent, Purpose and Participation. Not all gathering are Active Social gatherings, some are just reasons to be in the presence of others as we do our own things. Let’s be aware of the these factors the next time we are in the presence of others. Remember we don’t want to distract focus from the matter at hand but that doesn’t mean that we always have to keep you phone away. I think the above points will help us preserve the quality of our Active Human Interaction in this Modern day and balance the need to be Connected.

Straight From The Heart

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The Productivity Serial Killer, Distraction @coffeacoffeemy


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Hello readers!

It’s been while, hope you guys are doing well. 😊

I’m back at Coffea Coffee today, didn’t realise how much I missed my Madonna Flat White until I took that first sip. If you haven’t tried this place out please do, I’ll be sitting a review of Coffea in due time to launch my cafe review section, Coffee@ ☕.

I’ve gotten back to reading Robin Sharma’s blog again, there’s some really get stuff there, a lot of which i try to apply and a lot of advise that has helped me. This week i read the 51 Ways Ordinary People Reached World-Class and i want to talk about Way #10

Don’t check your mobile when you’re meeting with another person. It’s rude. And rude people don’t reach world-class.

i’ve been trying my best to apply this over the week and i have to say that i have been particularly successful.

The mobile age has brought us so much, but at the same time it has taken away a few important things… number 1 being our Focus. With all sorts of gadgets buzzing and notification and messages coming in most of us are never really focused on what is at hand, and the sad state is that a lot of us (myself included) put priority on that message we get or that Facebook notification or that Tweet over Present Physical Company. We are so distracted, we say we are multi-taskig but really that’s just an excuse, we lack Focus.

As Robin puts it, We live i the Age of Dramatic Distraction.

Work and life now move faster than ever before. We live in The Age of Dramatic Distraction with emails and text messages and cell phones and Facebook notifications screaming for our attention. All this time spent on unimportant – but seemingly urgent – things are draining your energy, costing you money and ruining your peace of mind. Oh, it’s all messing up your health too.

 

Being busy isn’t being productive.

Multitasking doesn’t mean you’re getting more done.

It’s just means that you aren’t clear on what you want,

It means that you can’t focus.

Focus has become such a rare commodity, and we have to start protecting it and more than that, we need to strengthen it.

Focus is a vital to Productivity in what ever it i you want to do. It’s the difference between Excellence and Mediocrity.

This lack of Focus has created a world where great thoughts are killed midway by distraction or even if they do survive they aren’t allowed to grow because we do not spend enough time in solitude. I find that my best thoughts come when i spend some time alone, whether it is my morning Holy Hour or just an hour during the day where i separate myself from the world and think. If we don’t spend any time in solitude thinking how will we ever be clear on what we want and how to get there? And it is because of this lack of clarity that so many of us live i a daze, going through life one day at a time, being busy for the sake of feeling that we are being productive and moving forward with our lives but in truth we’re not.

Please don’t confuse activity with productivity. Many many people are simply busy being busy. – Robin Sharma

And the most dangerous of all Distractions is Entertainment. You have the old timer, TV and also the more notorious new kids on the block, mobile gaming (candy crush, angry birds etc). Not there’s nothing wrong with entertainment, these games to have stimulating effects on our minds but like all things it must be in moderation. Without moderation TV, console gaming and mobile gaming will numb our minds, will encourage procrastination and waste the days we’ve been given.

Here are some suggestion to help us grow our Focus, kill our Distractions and be more Productive.

1. Be in the present
when we are in the company of people;
let us not play with our phones,
let us not fiddle with our phones
let us not reply messages (if it was really important they should call you)
Focus on the people in front of us, and if we need to take or make a call, excuse ourselves and come back after. I had a great dinner with a friend the other day, we didn’t touch our phones for a good 2 hours (except when our parents called) and i had a great time. Such great conversation and stimulating thoughts were born or developed or expressed.

Focus on the physical present, the virtual present if there at out\r disposal, we are not slaves to it, it serves us.

2. Do Not Disturb Mode
when we want to work, let’s put our gadgets on Do Not Disturb and set them away. Work for a set time, say an hour, and then take a break. and then repeat. This is a great way to strengthen our focus and discipline. Start with a goal of 30 minutes at the beginning and then as the days progress, increase it. There will come a time when we will be able to work 4 hours without distraction and not eve feel it.

3. Solitude
spend time in solitude, just us and our thoughts. These are the times ideas are born, the time when dreams become reality. Spend time in absolute quiet, think about life, have a pen and paper to record ideas and thoughts, or use Evernote like i Do (but you the need to turn off notifications). Here maybe start with 15 minutes of Solitude ad progress from there. I can do about 30 to 45 minutes nowadays. No communication, no reading, no talking to anyone but ourselves. My aim is to be reach an our of Solitude daily, preferably the mornings.

4. Explain & Inform
Explain to the people we hangout most with about what we are trying to do. If they support us then we know they want us to grow and hence care of us, if they don’t support… then they might not understand the importance of focus or not care about us as much as we thought; this may call for a Friendship Reconsideration. The people that are closest to us will not only understand but support, and does who do not are those who will bring us down… keep them at arms length.

If you have ay other suggestion please feel free to comment below.

Hope that i’ve been helpful,

Straight From The Heart

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Notes on Q1 & Q2, Goals & Guidelines


Good Afternoon readers,

It’s feeling like quite the zoned out and blur day for me today, quite tired and all that jazz. Head’s feeling really fogged up. Hoping that my Costa Rica Tarrazu at Coffea will help clear things up 🙂 i’m having black coffee today, which is a first, and i have to say, it’s pretty good actually.

Anyway, it’s now the 4th of April, which means that we’re 4 days into the 2nd quarter of 2013.
It’s time to look back over the last 3 months and see how things stand.

Over the last 3 months i’ve done quite a bit of travelling (Macau, Kuala Terengganu, Penang, Perth), watched SHM, had quite an awesome Birthday week, got back to classes and made better friends at Monash, read quite a bit (Clash of Kings, Storm of Swords), got back to writing, started journaling again, got the ball rolling on waking up early & exercise and of course dealing with Round 1 2013.

Essentially it’s been a quarter of small daily improvements, a quarter of repairing the foundation and of moving forward and learning. I’m fairing much better with Round 1 2013 as compared to Round 1 2012, which is good. I’ve gained a better understanding of Fibromyalgia and am making a point to spread that awareness. So that other people understand and so that i don’t forget.

As for goals, i can say that i’ve missed quite. I made my goals not accounting for setbacks and well, life in general haha.

But that doesn’t mean i’m not going to set goals for Q2, however this time i’ll take what i’ve learnt from Q1 and use that to calibrate Q2 goals; Health, Academic, Personal Development, Social & Finances.

Q2 Goals & Guidelines include:
1) a book a week
2) 3 posts a week
3) wake up at 6am 4 times a week
4) morning exercise 5 times a week
5) Study lecture content before hand.
6) not going out after 7pm & sleep by 10pm – Sunday to Wednesday.
7) 1 vegetarian meal a day
8) journal during Holy Hour (which means daily)
9) 2 road trips
10) Cut monthly expenses (includes: transport, food, coffee, phone bills, etc) to 700.

Going to work on the Q2 Goals & Guidelines a little more, but the 10 above are the core elements.

Have you thoughts about how your last quarter has gone? Have you thought about how you want the next quarter to go?

Get cracking on your goals.

Start small and simple and build on that. Set some goals for the week and simple daily goals that will help you achieve the weekly goals. Always break things down into smaller manageable steps.

They all feed into each other.

Daily Goals build up to Weekly goals that build up to Monthly goals -> Quarterly goals -> Yearly goals -> 5 years -> 10 years

With goals and guidelines you build an awareness on what’s important, and that will be the difference.

By getting clear on what you want out of life, you heighten your awareness around what’s most important. With better awareness comes better choices. And with better choices you’ll see better results. Clarity breeds success.
Robin Sharma

I leave you with that to think about,

Straight From The Heart

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RVP: From Gooner to Gunner to Devil


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>Good Afternoon guys,

it’s a nice evening in KL. The family and I decided to getaway for the weekend by running into the City 🙂 The Grand Hyatt has a great view of the Petronas Twin Towers.

I was just reminded by my LT that i was supposed to talk about why i hate RVP,

so here is

Arkay’s Gooner Life

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<br /
Van Persie,

of all the the players who have left us Gooners over the years, he is the one i despise the most.

Not because he said we had no ambition (we do, but the Clubs ambition is a long term ambition no RVP’s short term vision) or any other reason but for the fact that out of the 8 seasons with us he only had a good 1.5 seasons, Wenger stood by him for all his injured years but when the tables turned and Wenger needed him… he left.

Clichy, Fabregas, Henry, Nasri, Adebayor, Song and Co all left, but they also served the club to their best ability before they left.

Cesc played 8 solid years for us before going home.

Song did’t want to leave.

Nasri was only with us for 2/3 years, so can’t really ask for loyalty there, but he did serve us well.

Henry was looking for a change and a bigger challenge.

Helb & Flamini also left for money we could not give them, but again, they were relatively new and served us well.

Clichy spent 8 seasons with us and gave us his all.

But I expected more of RVP,

He was our Captain, our Hero, our Flying Dutchman
the person we looked to to save us when the chips were down
A Gooner grown that should’ve become a Gunner Legend
The player who kissed the badge and told us he would never leave us
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At Arsenal he only scored 96 goals for the club and 48 of them from the last 1.5 seasons, he’s average is a mere 12 goals a season.

8 years and only 96 goals.

96.

Let’s do a little math and extrapolate what could have (should have) been if he was fit.

A peak of about 30 goals last season. 18 goals from the half season of 2010-2011, so let’s give him 30 for that season as well, and for the seasons before an average of 18. that should have been about 168 goals in an Arsenal shirt.

But no, those goals were taken from Arsenal because of all his injuries and just when he gets properly fit he leaves. Now i know my calculations are all just speculative and hypothetical, but they are reasonable, no one can deny he has the quality.

Wenger, the Club & the Supporters stood by him for years, took care of him for years, protected him for years and he turned around and spat in their faces.

Well good for him, looks like he’s on to win the BPL with United and that’s all good and professional for him,

but i hate him because though it may be just Business for some football players,

it’s personal for the fans.

Straight From The Heart<

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Detours & Adapting. RIP Old Me


Good morning readers,

i’ve been having a few off days, but coping with all the nonsense that’s been coming my way. Progress is happening.

So I’m back at Starbucks Monash with my mocha and my thoughts.

So let’s talk about life.

People change as life progresses, we hope for the better, but sometimes it’s for the worse. We change to adapt, to move forward and to survive. As much as i’ve adapted to Living with Fibromyalgia, i’ve been making one big fat mistake…

I’m holding myself to standards i set out when I was 18. Standards set after leaving school on quite the high: Head Prefect, the President’s Award, Great SPM results and acceptance into a UWC.

All during a time when i had no clue what Fibromyalgia was. And what it would eventually mean for me…

That was the Old Me, and I need to accept the fact that the Old Me is dead. I cannot expect myself to live up to standards of then, it’s just unrealistic and will do me more harm than good; physically, mentally & emotionally. I’m not saying that i’m going to stop dreaming, but i am definitely going to need to be less harsh and more patient with myself.

I need to accept

that it’ll take me longer to achieve my goals than it would be for a regular person

that my health is the undisputed #1 priority in my life

that my potential isn’t as great as it would have been when i was 18

but that doesn’t mean

that i wont reach my goals

that i can’t focus on other parts of my life

that I won’t do great things.

It just means that

I need to allocate resources better

I need Take care of myself

I need to look for different paths, ways and options.

The death of the Old Me by Fibromyalgia doesn’t mean in any way that my life is over,

it just means that things are different

and whoever said it was for the worse?

Straight From The Heart

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I am a #Gooner @starbucksmy #arsenal


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Good Morning!

At Starbucks Monash today with my Mocha next to me and a bright day in front of me (currently). Sleep wasn’t very good, only got 5 hours, so hopefully i don’t crash too soon.

Today I’m going to kick off my Gooner4Life section, starting with a little introduction as a Gooner.

I’ve been an Arsenal fan since 2000 but turned supporter in 2006 (i’ll explain the difference between fan & supporter another time). Before 2006 i never really watched football, or knew much about the team, i was just a fan, i wasn’t really into football. My true life as a Gooner started after i watched the Champions League Final between Arsenal & Barca and felt the heartache after, we should have won that. I starting watching Arsenal more regularly and by 2008 there were not many games i missed. I never had the pleasure of watching the Invincibles go through the season unbeaten, or if i did i didn’t really understand or appreciate it, or appreciate Bergkamp for the magician that he was and all the other good things from before my Gooner Life.

But what i can say now, is that I am a Gooner now and forever, i’ve suffered the heartaches of losing vital games and players but also see some great things in the last 6 years. I’m a supporter going though the trophy drought. I am a supporter who has seen key players leave every season. I’ve seen us throw away a Cup at the end and witnessed the physical breaking of some Gunners.

But also,

I’ve watched my Gunners beat Barca, Milan & Bayern at home, I watched the chemistry of the Rosicky, Flamini, Fabregas & Hleb midfield, i watched our comebacks against Chelsea and Spurs and time after time i’ve seen the team do brilliant things even though we haven’t had a stable, fixed squad over the years since we moved over to the Emirates; which is what i believe to be our main problem, not the lack of quality in our players, but the inability to retain a stable core of team for more than a season, which affects team chemistry and communication. I’ll go into this further in a future post.

Through all that, my support is right behind the club, Wenger, Hill-Wood & the Board. In Wenger I trust. They initiated a plan to take us to the next level, a 10 year plan that started with the move to the Emirates and will be completed when we pay off the remaining stadium debt of £250m . It is all short-term displeasure and we will get through it. We were a winning squad before but a small club, now we are a growing club without trophies after 2017 we will be one of the biggest Clubs Globally, with a Winning Squad, great leader, revenues that will enable us to pay players the inflated market wage and that’s when things will truly be stable again. Again, I’ll go into more detail in my next Gooner4Life post.

So, in wrapping up, I’m a Gooner, In Wenger I Trust, I’m here for the long-term, I believe i what the club, board and Wenger are doing for the Club and I don’t want someone (Oil money, billionaire) to buy us out and make the Club his/her new toy.

Gooner4Life

Student Life @StarbucksMY


Good Morning guys,
Hope you’re morning has been good! I’ve got my Mocha next to me as I sit at my fav table at the Starbucks Monash.

I got hit by a Fibro Spike (sudden, out of the blue, ninja spike of my fibromyalgia symptoms etc) yesterday morning that really took the wind out of me for a big part of the morning, but i managed to eventually (2 hours later) get out of bed. This morning wasn’t as bad as yesterday, it was difficult but nothing like yesterday and took me 10 minutes to shake enough of it off to get out of bed, though today i experienced something that’s been MIA for a long time, waking up moderately disorientated with a hint of nausea on the side. As for now, things seem to be pretty good. Had a good ComBank tutorial and an even better Business Law tutorial, as of now BL is my fav class, the syllabus thus far (2 weeks) has been intriguing. It’s making me wonder whether i should actually be doing law. I know it’s only been 2 weeks, it’s just that fighting against injustice is something that appeals to me, i’m not a big fan of unfairness and if there’s something i can do about something i think is wrong, I’d like to act on it.

Which brings me to today’s main course, though it’s not all that filling.

Last week i published a post about my the Monash Parking Problem, and in doing that I’ve also launched a new category, initially to be called Monash & Co, but decided that Student Life would be more apt. It doesn’t limit my writing to just Monash, but allows me to collaborate with Down Memory Lane to bring write about previous student life in; CPU, UWC.

In this category will be the writings of a student about issues ranging from infrastructure, like the last week’s piece, to academics. Essentially anything to do with my current place of eduction; currently Monash University Sunway Campus. I feel that through writing i can Act, that i can create awareness and hopefully make a change or non-change. I will write about things that i feel can change or praise things that i think have been done right.

Now, just because last weeks post didn’t reflect Monash in the best of light does it mean that all future posts will follow suit. No.

I will praise and I will critique.
I will write the good, the bad & the ugly.
It will be based on my opinion of right and wrong.
I will strive to be as unbiased as I can,
I will do my homework,

but essentially,

I’ll write it as I see it.

Just a heads up, the next few posts will not present Monash in the best of light, but it is something that needs to be put out there, just need to do a little more homework.

Well, i think that’s about it.

Oh wait i forgot!

If you have something you would like me to look into and write about please let me know, and i’ll look into it and see whether i can put a post together.

Now and as always,

Straight From The Heart

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