Tag: Coffee

Coffee & I: A Story of Escape, Recovery & Love… of sorts.


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What’s up guys 🙂
I’m back at Artisan with a flat white next to me, or what’s left of a flat white, thinking about coffee…

Coffee, a strange thing to get excited or be fussy about i know, but i love it. I love the aroma that hits me as I walk into a coffee shop, the whiff of freshly grounded beans with their hints of dark chocolate, the taste of a good cup as it lingers on the tongue, the Zen I feel as I think & write at some of my favs and of course, the alertness that presents itself later in mid writing or conversation.

Coffee is a relatively big deal to me, others love their food and perfectly poached eggs, or their ice-cold beers straight out of the tap or out of the ice box, others their favourite whisky on the rocks or neat or their glass of red wine as it swirls around, gently caressing the wine glass before taking a sip.
I love my coffee, not the 3-in-1 stuff, not the instant stuff, the freshly ground, non-economies of scale roasted Papa Palheta/Coffee Societe/ Artisan Coffee/ Podgy and the Banker stuff.
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I’m not an expert or barista or anything like that, yet :p, I’m just someone who started out with freeloading off Starbucks Monash’s ambience with my green tea in my nice green Starbucks Thermos, that is until I met their Cafe Mocha and thus began my love affair with coffee, March 2012. This relationship went on strong for a while, almost a year i think, until I, erm, had an affair with Artisan Coffee BV2 which lead to my breakup with Starbucks, and for a while I was playing the field, going to different places for coffee and blogging but could never find the right one, either the coffee was good but not conducive for my writing or vice versa, until I bumped into Coffea Coffee Bangsar. I found myself at Coffea almost everyday, things were good for half a year until a friend introduced me to the newly open Artisan Coffee HQ; great coffee, 6 minutes from home, lots of natural light, comfy and free parking right smack in front… 20130815-154021.jpgSince then Artisan Coffee HQ became my regular place, I am comfy there, most of the people behind the counter know me, they stick my little yellow notes behind the counter, always make me feel welcomed and the coffee is good, there are days where it isn’t good and they fix it, and then there are days where it’s great, like today, great, a perfectly balanced flat white.  It’s been a good 7 months since and though I do try out other places (which greatly accelerated over the last 3 months as my Instagram account & Arkay’s QOTDs will testify show haha; i started trying other places around PJ, #CoffeeCulturePJ, & KL, #CoffeeCultureKL, checked out as many places as i could when I visited family in Penang, #CoffeeCulturePG, and Singapore, #CoffeeCultureSG, oh and even when i was in London, #CoffeeCultureUK) no one place has the whole package, Coffee, Comfort, Character & Compatibility, as I feel Artisan Coffee HQ has, and is still my regular place, as my yellow notes on the wall will show 🙂
“…coming to my favourite coffee place to enjoy a good coffee with appropriate music in solitude is when i run maintenance on myself and clear out some of the mess within so that i don’t reach a Level 10 meltdown. I’ve realized that my major Meltdowns come during periods where i don’t do any writing = i haven’t been spending time alone. I find that with my regular QuietTimes, i’m doing less frantic running around to put out fires and get more things done because my head is much clearer in comparison to other times without “maintenance”.
Coffee and the establishments that supplied it to me have played a significant role in my life over the last 2 years, they’ve played a part in my recovery.
Seriously.
Coffea Coffee, Artisan Coffee HQ and also Flat White SS 15 provided my a place to run away from the noise and mess of the world and be at peace, an environment that somehow quieten my mind and helped me focus, think and write…. and without my writing I probably wouldn’t have made half the progress that I’ve made. That’s how it all started, I was just looking for a place to runaway to and it’s grown into this love and appreciation.

I guess i just want people to understand that coming to Artisan or Flat White (or Coffea) isn’t just about the coffee, the coffee is great, but more importantly, it’s a place in which i’m protected and sheltered from the outside world

The world is a messy place, and even more of a mess when you have Fibromyalgia. Constant pain, sensitive nerves (to stimuli like lights and sounds too) and almost always so tired… combined that with a brain that doesn’t work as efficiently as it should and i’ve got a situation in which i’m unable to process all these details appropriately so it all just ends up as a mess in my mind.

So it gets very very difficult to have to deal with the normal suff in life…. the regular things like academic pressures, getting stuff done traffic and especially dealing with people… i.e. family and friends. (I love them to bits but sometimes it gets very hard for me to deal with the mess that comes naturally)” 

Here I am, 2 years later sitting at Artisan Coffee HQ, sipping a perfectly balanced flat white in an environment that allows me to feel somewhat Zen, away from the noise of the world, a home away from home.
So, aside from being part of the recovery cocktail that’s got me this far, the question now is… has coffee become a passion of mine?
 
Yes. I’m pretty sure haha.
I see myself learning the art of The Barista and doing it part time; I see myself writing more about coffee, be it reviews, general thoughts & the progress of my coffee education; and even, hopefully, eventually, see myself owning & running my own place, a place just for coffee & cake filled with regulars illuminated in natural lighting amongst the beautiful buzz of great conversation conceiving great ideas and thoughts over lattes, brewed coffees and juices with a little stack of random Arkay’s QOTDs on each table, sort of like a fortune cookie but instead of a fortune they’ll get one of my favourite quotes that will hopefully spark the great conversations. Hahaha, yes, i’ve thought about this quite bit 🙂 I’m not sure about it or anything, it’s just something i’ve been playing around with in my head for a while.
There’s a long way to go if I want that to happen, I’m going to need to learn more, practice, try more and experiment, I’m going to write about it all. The different shops and coffees on my coffee trail, my trial and errors at brewing & barista-ing, the ups and downs on this specific journey.
I guess only after all of the above will I be able to tell if I truly have this passion for coffee or whether it’s just a casual fancy. Time, and effort, will tell.
Keep Moving Forward #KMF
Straight From The Heart

Keep Moving Forward

Oh, One More Thing…
“That’s the thing about coffee places, it’s a place you can be alone but not really feel alone. It’s a sort of mid point, away from people that you are always with which explains how one feels alone but surrounded by strangers that cause a little background buzz, a sort of background connection to humanity that brings about the feeling that you’re not alone. Essentially the difference being that you’re alone on a conscious level, a level where you’re alone with your thought and the other being you’re not alone on a subconscious level, where you are aware that there are people around you but you don’t think about it, it’s all just background processes that don’t matter at the moment, just background music if you will. Just comforting background music because, I think, even when we want to be alone, we don’t really want to be completely alone in silence. Why? Because we feel disconnected from humanity, and most would rather not have that. Especially now, in an age of extreme connectivity. “
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Coffee For One Part 2


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Coffee For One please 😉

Saturday 14/9/13

What’s crack-a-lacking guys?

I’m back here at #ArtisanHQ having a great Piccolo having some #QuietTime. I realize that i’ve been spending a lot more time alone this year, and i actually like it. I like being alone because more than just learning more about myself, during these times life is quiet.There’s no noise, no complications, no mess.

In isolation things are clean and simple.

I don’t feel like my mind is being suffocated.

I don’t feel distracted.

I don’t feel like my thoughts are being drowned out by the mess that surrounds me.

I don’t feel like people are demanding too much out of me.

This is quite the 180 degree change because I used to be the type of person that always needed to have people around me. A person whose happiness depended on the availability of other people. A person who wasn’t comfortable being alone with himself. Well, not as much anymore. This year i’ve learnt to appreciate the brilliance and incredible benefit that comes with spending time alone on the regular.

It’s in this Quiet that I feel at Peace.

Peace from Life,
and the it’s complications and mess.

Peace from Society,
and the noise of too many voices.

Peace from Fibro,
and the daily struggle to live.

It’s during these times spent alone that life seems to be in… Harmony, even if just for an hour, it makes such a big difference to me. Having my quiet time at Artisan or Flat White provides me the incredibly vital time to stabilise and ground myself. A time of “maintenance”, a time which helps me clarify and process the hundreds of stimuli and factors that surround me daily.

I guess i just want people to understand that coming to Artisan or Flat White (or Coffea) isn’t just about the coffee, the coffee is great, but more importantly, it’s a place in which i’m protected and sheltered from the outside world

The world is a messy place, and even more of a mess when you have Fibromyalgia. Constant pain, sensitive nerves (to stimuli like lights and sounds too) and almost always so tired… combined that with a brain that doesn’t work as efficiently as it should and i’ve got a situation in which i’m unable to process all these details appropriately so it all just ends up as a mess in my mind.

So it gets very very difficult to have to deal with the normal suff in life…. the regular things like academic pressures, getting stuff done traffic and especially dealing with people… i.e. family and friends. (I love them to bits but sometimes it gets very hard for me to deal with the mess that comes naturally)

Think of it as a highly popular airport where the Tower isn’t responding well (probably because of bad maintenance hence major system failures) to the demands of the hundreds of inbound & outbound flights. What would happen then?
Things would be messed up as ****.

Planes wouldn’t be able to take off causing inbound planes to keep circling over head because they can’t land, leading an incredible mess of planes on the runway and in the skies = problem… Someone’s got to come in and cancel all outbound flights, instruct planes that can, to fly to other airports and then manage what’s left. This scenario would probably describe a Level 6/7 day for me. So what is a Level 9/10? The same situation but this time at near 0 visibility with a major storm. #fun

So, back to my point, coming to my favourite coffee place to enjoy a good coffee with appropriate music in solitude is when i run maintenance on myself and clear out some of the mess within so that i don’t reach a Level 10 meltdown. I’ve realized that my major Meltdowns come during periods where i don’t do any writing = i haven’t been spending time alone. I find that with my regular QuietTimes, i’m doing less frantic running around to put out fires and get more things done because my head is much clearer in comparison to other times without “maintenance”.

I would just like to say that i’m not saying i want to be a Nomad and live on my own and not deal with people, but i’ll probably be spending more time alone just to protect myself, i find it one of the best ways to deal with fibro and keep myself sane in all this mess that i deal with on a daily basis.

Powered by Artisan’s Piccolo (sponsored by my dear mother <3)
Tech Support by my 3rd Gen iPad, Bluetooth Logitech keyboard & my iPhone 5.
Tunes provided by Spotify Premium.

Keep Moving Forward
Roshan Kanesan

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The Theory of Success Relativity.


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Good Evening guys,

it’s a nice cool evening here in PJ, sitting down at the Coffee bar here at Artisan HQ with a flat white next to figuring out what i’m going to write about today, it doesn’t help that i’m notfeeling great today, it’s been a while since i’ve felt this level of general pain, this fogged up and this stiff, was much worse when i woke, i’m really happy that it has gotten better gradually. Can’t be too out-of-it for Sheka’s Birthday party tonight 😉 Anyway, I now know what i’m going to talk about today. The other day i was having a chat with my cousin, Perashanth , aka Peeg, aka Bosco, about success and he had some
very interesting and very insightful things to say. I really enjoy talking to him about stuff because he thinks qute differently from me, although i don’t enjoy playing board games as much because his mind is also incredible strategic and as such kicks my ass on a regular basis.

So anyway, Bosco said this… or something like this (I’m sure he’ll call me up and correct me if i’m mistaken 😉 )

“All you can do is try and do your best, but don’t expect people to give you a pat on the back and say you did your best.” Perashanth “Peeg” “Bosso” G

He’s got a really good point here. That really is reality of life, yes there are times where people will acknowledge our hard work and efforts but that won’t be all the time. Most of the time, we look right at the results, and that can be a hard truth to accept. I know that there’s always going to be someone out there that is either smarter than me, fitter than me, more skilled than me and so on and they could have gotten there with less effort than i took to get to where i am now in comparison, but that’s life. Like i mentioned last week, we aren’t perfect and like i mentioned a few weeks back
we may have to take different routes than others, some that are longer or harder, but routes that could get us closer to our goals.

In life we need to remember that; We are our own measures of success. Only we will know how hard we’ve worked. Only we will know how far we’ve come. Only we know our standards and principles. Only we will know how successful we are. The only person that can really judge you is the person staring right back at you in the mirror. We’ve got to be ok with what we had to do to get to the same situation that some other people may have got to easily. I’m not saying that we should lower our standards of ourselves, but to be aware of the effort:success ratio, after all what is success if you are not happy?

Personally I don’t see the point of being financially successful if:

– I’m going to be alone

– i’m going to be miss all the important moments in my family life

– i’m not going to be able to enjoy my money till i’m
old

Sidenote: though i will strive to ensure that i am in a financial position in which i can provide my family the same lifestyle and opportunities that i’ve been provided with, that’s the baseline financial goal for me.

So again, it’s all relative and personal. What we want may not be what someone else wants. Or what is easy to us may not be to others and vice versa. Some of us may have strong communication skills but lack the same touch with numbers, and other may have the number touch but unable to communicate clearly, because as i said last week, we’re all human and we have our strengths and weaknesses. We just have to find a way to utilise our strengths in order to maximise our potential…

I feel that i may have run away from the main topic a bit, though i’m not really sure because i’m currently finding it a little difficult to think. Don’t be too surprised if you see a “version 2” of this piece out in a few days.

Why write today When I’m feeling off? Because I don’t want to be seen/read only on my good days.

So hopefully i got the point across clear enough and also hope that i didn’t completely misinterpret what Bosco told me the other day.

Peace out

Straight From The Heart

Roshan ‘Arkay’ Kanesan

 

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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Reflections @coffeacoffeemy – Fibromyalgia Strikes Back


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Good Morning people,

I’m back at Coffea Coffee with a Madonna Flat White next to me, which tastes better that yesterdays, not that it was bad yesterday but that today my perception of life is a little brighter.

It’s been a while since my last weekly review/reflection, hoping to get back to making this regular, but now on mondays instead of sundays.

Reflecting on the week, ended Sunday March 17th, there is much to be concerned about, but also much to be grateful for. As usual i am grateful for the family and friends that i have around me that support me when times get dark, as they did during the last few days of the week, and celebrate with me during the good times, my 23rd birthday.
Last week I had plenty of fun with friends old & new, going out for dinner, watching Armageddon (for the first time), playing FIFA and retaining the FIFA King Title, and also saw an increase in productivity; got back to reading, though i only managed 3 hours last week; blogged more, put up 3 posts & revamped my sites layout and categories; got started on a regular sleep pattern and woke up at 6am 3 times; and a few other things which i can seem to recall right now cause my fibrofog has gotten worse from the time i woke up, from a 3/10 to a 6/10 now. which brings me to the most important part of last week;

Fibromyalgia Strikes back, with a vengeance.
My post from yesterday:

I’ve been fighting for some time now, and one thing i’ve learnt is that no matter how good things can get, there will be a time when it comes back for me. Through all this it has taught me a few things but most importantly, like all the other hurdles in my life, it’s made me stronger and made me aware of something: “The toughest fights I’ve ever been in are with no one else but myself, because once i win that fight, everything else is only a matter of time.” This week has been bittersweet, sweet because it’s been fun and there has been some improvement in productivity; bitter because while i wasn’t looking Round 1, 2013 (my first difficult spell with FMS this year) started, and i wasn’t as prepared as I would have liked to have been. I don’t know how i didn’t see this coming, i pushed myself harder than i should have over the first few days of the week and should have seen this coming when the my symptoms Spiked on Tuesday. How did i miss it? maybe i thought Tuesday was a one off thing, maybe i pulled a page out of the beginning of last year and ignored it, maybe i got arrogant and didn’t think it could hurt me this time. I think that’s the one, I got arrogant. Arrogance cost me a lot a year ago, at least this time around i’m more aware and won’t let it get as far as it did then. The pains, stiffness, aches & fatigue got mildly worse as the week proressed but yesterday… yesterday things escalated click here to continue reading

(Sidenote: Please click o the passage above to add the view count to yesterdays post. thanks)

This is sums up the end of last week, and the main point of today’s reflection. I’ve been fending of minor Fibromyalgia attacks from the beginning of the year without much problem, but last week saw the resurfacing of something that i didn’t want to see again, something i didn’t want to deal with again, but something i will have to fight again and beat again. Last year, Round 1 2012, was a fight over 3/4 months, and like i mentioned above was the toughest fight with it i’ve had over the last 3/4 years. I beat it last year, i’ll beat it again, it’s just a matter of time. I’ll need to adjust to the new battle ground and being back at uni, but i’ll get it done.

Straight From The Heart

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What You Achieve is as Important as Who You Become @CoffeaCoffeeMY


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Good Morning guys,

it’s been a pretty good morning for me so far, got up bright and early (and by bright i mean that my fibro wasn’t much of a problem, fog was like 3/10, stiffness was 4/10, pain 2/10) and got on to my journaling during my Holy Hour followed by a very good jog. That was a little an hour ago.

Now I’m at my Current Fav Coffee Spot, Coffea Coffee accompanied by a fine looking , and tasting, Maestro Flat White, though i’ve now decided that i’m more in favour of the Madonna.

So today,

I’m going to take a look at the Henry David Thoreau quote that i came upon last week:

“What you get by achieving your goals is as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”

The minute i saw this quote i knew i had to write something about it. It’s something that so many of us (myself as well) forget to think about. Now we’ve all got goals and dreams, whether you know it or not.

Some work hard to chase them,
Some work smart,
Some work tirelessly,
Some work in spurts,
And most of us use many of the various combination that can be formed

then there are those who

Pray but don’t believe
Wish but don’t act
Dream but don’t plan

Which I am going to call the Wishful Thinker, not to be confused with The Optimist or The Dreamer. A Wishful Thinker is someone who wants things to happen, dream to come true without lifting a finger.

Now to the point at hand,

The many of us goal chasers will encounter challenges, defeat and pain along the way to the finish line, now something else to keep i mind as you fight to Make It (achieve your goals, get what you wanted, reach the finish line) is who you are changing along the way, are you being Built Up, in which you get rid of the Unwanted Fat (character traits or elements in your life that aren’t exactly good, positive, productive, encouraging etc) or are you being Taken Apart (in which you find that you are losing the best parts of what makes You). It is so important to keep an eye on this, it’s all good if you’re being Built Up, that’s the best way to Keep Moving Forward, but if you find that you’re being Taken Apart, well then something needs to be done.

Do you really want to Make It but then be:
somebody that you’re friends don’t know?
or worse,
someone that you’re inner circle does’t recognise?
or worst of all,
someone that doesn’t know you they’re looking in the mirror?

To have lost the person that made those very goals in the war you fought to get here?

Achievement and Success is all great but it’s who you are that’s most important,
not what you are,
not where you are,
not how much money you have,
nor the car you drive,
how big your house is,
or
how hot your spouse is.

The ultimate goal in life is to be Happy, Pay it Forward & Live –

in a way that is in line with who you are and not try to fit in to what is deemed “normal”. Not only does normal not really exist, it’s contradicting the very nature of Us, we are all different so stop trying to be like everyone else.

Embrace who you are and work from there, don’t lose the parts that make you You. Make sure that when you Make It, You are more than You were, not less.

Ensure that as you Live and move towards your goals, you’re being Built Up and not Taken Apart. It’s not as easy as it sounds but it’ll be worth it.

Hope i got my point across,

if you liked my post and/or writing please let me know by any or all of the following:

commenting below

rating it (the scale is at the top of the post)

sharing it with your friends on Facebook

sharing it with your followers on Twitter.

I’d appreciate any and all of it.
Thank you in advance!

Straight From The Heart

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Back to Class, Parking Problems & Communication Issues@StarbucksMY


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Good Morning guys,

#BacktoClass
A new academic year has started and as such I’m back here at my old writing spot at Starbucks Monash Sunway, it’s been at least 4 months since i last blogged from here. Today i am accompanied by Latte, 2 normals shots topped off by a decaf shot. Good to see that many of the faces from the last semester are still around behind the espresso machine.

Birthday Present!
Now, maybe you’ve noticed a new addition to the pic above and maybe you haven’t, for my recent 23rd birthday my A-Team got me a Logitech bluetooth enable keyboard for my iPad and today is the first time i’m really using it and i have to say, it’s pretty damn nice. Thanks guys. Not that i didn’t like typing on the iPad itself, it’s just that now i won’t lose touch with typing on my macbook, which was happening last year. the iPad on-screen keyboard is way more compact than the physical keyboards and i started having some trouble typing on a physical keyboard a few months after getting my iPad, so now that will not be happening, feels very close to typing on my MacBook Pro. Oh, and now that there is no keyboard on-screen, the entire Retina Display is dedicated to my writing, that’s probably my favourite thing.

Today’s Point
The current issue on mind was kicked off by the Sunway Monash Residence office and their communication failure 2 weeks ago.

I was at the SMR office to apply for the the Non-Resident SMR parking, and was told that they don’t do pre-bookings and that i would have to apply next month. I figured that to mean come on March 1st. i actually thought about applying there and then for February, and i pay for the current month, which would essentially be burning the 50 bucks for Feb, but since I was told that there was no pre-booking i figured that if i come early on the 1st there wouldn’t be any problems applying. However i would not be able to go on the first so i got help from my mum and a friend but that came to nothing as i was told a few days before the 1st, while i was in perth, that not only was the SMR Non-Resident parking lot full but that the waiting list was closed.

Now imagine my confusion,

how can there be a wait-list if there is no pre-booking the week before the beginning of the next month. I was confused and not pleased, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying my great perth holiday; which i will talk about at a later date. So, on the first day of this semester i went over to the SMR office to talk to them but that came to nothing, there was nothing they could do to help me out, even though it was one of them who misinformed and mislead me. All i kept hearing was, “the waiting list is closed” and found out that they were taking-in applications on the 25th of feb….

Wait a sec… let me see if my math and concept of space and time is right…

A week is 7 days, thus 7 days before the 1st of march is = 23rd of February… but wait, that can’t be right because i was told there was pre-booking and that no applications are taken in during the last week of a month,

so…

is the SMR Office using a different calendar system (in which the should be public about it) or is my basic concept of the calendar system at fault?

Dear SMR Office,i think you guys need to get your act together and be very clear on your Non-Resident Parking Application Policies & Procedures, something like the incredibly detailed set rules and regulations for the parking lot that’s on the application form, but for the Application Process. Hopefully this happens sometime soon, hey maybe i’ll go over and suggest it, so that students like myself aren’t let down in such a confusing & bitter manner.

Oh, and in the event that you do actually have formal procedures & policies for applying, why was i not provided with that information when i came to inquire 2 weeks ago, or better yet last year when i got the lot.

So what i learnt from all this and my couple visits to the SMR office is the customer service isn’t all that and that there are people there that just don’t know how to communicate and that you can’t trust what one person communicates entirely as it may not even be right.

Ok, so i didn’t get my nice parking spot, i’ll just revert to the normal parking right?

But wait,

Unfortunately the Monash University Student Car Park (SCP) fills up by 9am, on most days, and the median, mean and mode of my classes is 12pm. So this posed a problem on Tuesday when I arrived at Monash at 10am… which was solved by parking by the side of the road that also leads to the SMR Main Entrance, somewhere in the region of a 10 minute walk from campus, somewhere on the road next to the South Quay Lake.

And I wasn’t the only one who had to park there, there were at least another 40 cars there.

Yes i was irritated and angry that I was misinformed and that in order to get a space at the SCP i would need to be there by 8:45am but I will (and have) adjust(ed). My little parking problem alone isn’t a big deal but i’m not alone in this, there are many students who face problems with parking everyday and some to an extent where they are late for class (even though they came plenty early) or miss class, Monash University Sunway Campus needs to do something, maybe buy some land next to the SMR or near the South Quay lake and build a multi level car park with a proper weather proof student walkway to campus.

Unsustainable Growth

How can you keep enrolling more students when you do not adjust the parking capacity to support the growth? Once upon a time, from a year ago, it was possible to get parking between the hours of 9 & 10am, but by 9 it’s not at capacity but over-capacity and spilling out all over the place.

Just let me be clear,

I’m not whining about this. yes I was on a rant for some parts of this post (at the least haha) but like i said, i’ll adjust and deal with this current problem, i’ve had much bigger problems to deal with over the last year than that of this.

Silver Lining?

Well,

It will give me a bigger push to wake up bring & early to get my morning rituals done and be at the monash parking by 8:30am, it’s going to encourage me to plan for the week and stick with it and i’m going to save a little more money.

Parking a week will cost me now RM8, which is RM32 a month which is Rm18 saved. hahaha.

However,

I would really encourage Monash to help ease this major parking problem as it is their concern, it is a direct problem for their biggest stakeholders, the students! and i also hope that SMR will get their act together, their customer service could be much better and so could their communication & transparency.

Straight From The Heart

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Dream Big But Start Small @ CoffeaCoffeeMY, Bangsar


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Good morning guys, it’s looking gloomy here in Bangsar, hopefully the day doesn’t remain this way, but even if it does, well at least it’ll be a cool day, yesterday was quite hot. I’m sitting here at my current Fav Coffee Spot, Coffea Coffee enjoying the lovely Madonna FlatWhite that they have prepared for me. The day has started of pretty well, lets hope the feeling can continue to resonate through the day.

Today I would like to focus on the topic of Dream Big but Start Small, something I got from one of Robin Sharma’s materials.

Life isn’t about skipping steps or having to rush (which is unfortunately what a lot of us seem to be doing, rushing through life), it’s about continuous improvement, or at least it is to me. There are steps that can be taken to reach a dream, the steps just adjust to the decree of the Dream, and as such steps can get more difficult as you go forward. The key however, is to continuously break the steps down as you move forward, while still keeping an eye on the Big Dream. There’s nothing wrong with dreaming big, everyone who Made-It, started somewhere, they didn’t just get to where they are now in a flash of light. They didn’t wait around and wish for things to happen either, they went out and happen to things, they broke things down and made long-term goals and took the steps necessary. All lasting success is build upon the foundation of long-term planning, starting small, building momentum and patience (I talked about patience in my last blog post).

Now the most important thing about starting small is that you actually get started, the broken-down steps make it so that the dream doesn’t look daunting or intimidating, it looks achievable. As you keep on going, you will find that it will in fact get easier, or if not you have more energy and enthusiasm to face the world, this is simply because as you Keep Moving Forward, taking down one step or mini-step or even micro-step, you will build up Momentum, and the this further helps to propel you forward, as I’m sure you have experienced before.

Now the thing about momentum is that life will throw a Wrench in the works and send you back to Momentum Zero (the point where there is no momentum whether because you are starting new or because of the Wrench) and you’ll have to rebuild the momentum again and though you might feel frustrated (or angry or upset etc), Brace The Storm, don’t lose hope and don’t give up. Build the momentum again, get to Peak Momentum and when the Wrench comes at you again and you find yourself at Momentum Zero, do the before mentioned again. Keep repeating this and, as with all things, you will find that the time from Momentum Zero to Peak Momentum will shorten with every repetition, but only if you focus and don’t give up that is. You’ll grow tougher and lengthen your Peak Momentum Life as you will have learnt to deal with previous Wrenches and as such, it would now take bigger Wrenches to sway you off course.

This is not something that will come to you automatically, you have to be conscious and aware of this, keep a Momentum Record if you think it will help, so that you can see how your momentum is doing, what your Peak Momentum Life is and how it has either grown or diminished. This is not a straightforward process, but it will be worth it. Focus, Be Conscious & Keep Moving Forward.

Straight From The Heart

Other Related Posts:
1) Getting to Greatness without Burning Out

2) Small daily improvements lead to stunning results

3) Keeping The Momentum

4) Better Than Yesterday, Always

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Patience, Timing & Not Rushing In @CoffeaCoffeeMY


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Good Morning guys,

It’s been a while since I’ve felt this good in the morning, hope to keep it going 🙂

Got out of bed, went for a run, had my Holy Hour, practice my singing a little, watched the mentalist and now I’m having a really good Madonna flat white at Coffea Coffee. The day is indeed looking pretty damn good.

I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to write about today, on one hand I’m thinking about talking about a dream I had the other day and on the other I’m thinking about writing about the Patience and the like. You know what, I’m going to take a look at patience.

There’s always a conflict between being patient and wanting to get certain things done. When I want to do certain things, I want to do them immediate and I used to get pretty restless until I got the thing done, I’m still working on it but am at a better stance than previously.

I’ve found that most good things that have happened to me in my life are the result of being patient, that at the right time that which I want and work for will work out. I have also found that most of my mistakes and general bad and/or stressful things have occurred due to me rushing into things, usually with the mindset that it’s now or never. But you know what, looking back, I’ve realised that those times when I thought I needed to rush or get into that thing now, could have actually waited. I will of course work towards the things that I want, but I have to remember that being patient has lead to many great things, and even when it seemed like I missed an opportunity because of patience, it ended up leading to better things later, most of the time. Rushing into things has caused me much pain, at least I learnt from them, and the most common lesson being, patience.

I’m going to remember to Prepare, Learn and Wait for the right time, not to chase because there are certain things that aren’t meant to be and others that are. I do believe in greater Forces, I’m not saying that we’ve all got preset paths or the such, and sometimes if it doesn’t feel right, then don’t do it. Take a step back and be patient, because I find that through patience is when I can stand apart, observe and learn, and through this is when I believe that we find ‘The Right Time.’

Being patient and finding The Right Time can sometimes be confusing and conflicting, but this is what I’ve learnt: The Right Time isn’t about rushing in or chasing after something, it’s about standing back to observe and learn (actively, consciously) as you wait, and then stepping in when it feels right to you. It isn’t going to be easy, especially at first, and we’re all going to have to make mistakes in order to get to a better understanding of when to wait and when to step in. It’s experience that truly makes a difference in this department, and from all that i’ve dealt with over the last few years and what little I’ve learnt it’s better to wait than to rush into something, maybe that’s just me.

One more thing, do not confuse being patient with wishful thinking, while being patient we are also preparing, wishful thinking is just expecting something to fall in our laps.

Have a great day!

Straight From The Heart

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How do you, will you Define your Life? @CoffeaCoffeeMY


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Good Afternoon!

Yesterday I checked out this new coffee place in Bangsar, Coffea Coffee and am back here today. If you happen to have seen Twitter (@arkaysthoughts) or Instagram (@arkaysthoughts) yesterday afternoon, you would have witnessed the barrage of pictures of this place and its coffee. I enjoyed a Maestro Latte yesterday, which was strong and powerful and today I am trying out the Madonna Latte, which is lighter yet not weak, it’s got a more balanced flavour. Overall, I really enjoyed both. It instantly replaced the space that Artisan Coffee Bar had taken up in my mind, not only because of the coffee but because the layout here is more comfortable and has better ambience, with better seating, good music (yesterday was more lounge music to suit the Sunday and today’s music has got a more jazzy and instrumental feel) and less noise; Artisan Coffee Bar was in a centre lot at Bangsar Village 2 and as such was right in the middle of foot traffic and noise. While it’s a good spot to people watch, it is not however ideal for my thinking, writing and reading. And as for people watching, Coffea does has a nice view of Telawi 2 and is not bad for people watching, and as was the case at Artisan, the “Scenery” is more often than not very attractive. Oh how I love Bangsar.

If you want to try out a new coffee place, check out Coffea Coffee along Telawi 2. A few doors up from Antipodean and La Bodega.

Now on to today’s point.

Have you ever asked yourself how you do and will define your life? How do you define being successful or being on the right track or making progress? It occurs to me that most of us define our lives using our careers or money as a benchmark, not always the only one but always the most important. We’ve evolved into a society that prioritises material gain, money being the main attribute. Think about it, what’s the main goal l for a lot of us? Is it not to be rich? It isn’t wrong, it’s what the has been conditioned into us by society. It is essentially peer pressure. Seeing the people around you solely focus their lives on excelling in their education and then in their careers. What ever happened to balance? Or family? Or health?

I’m not against being career oriented, I’m just asking whether you are aware of how you’ve defined you life and whether you actually like it. However you want to Define your life is completely up to you and no matter how you do it, there will be people who will judge you, who will envy you and who will criticise you. Do not concern yourself with them, just ensure that the way you choose to define your life, that the way you will live your life brings harmony to your life, brings happiness and satisfaction and not disruption and dissatisfaction. Don’t go to extremes, be committed to your Definition but don’t ignore the other components of life, balance is needed, a Harmony needs more than one note, some more important to you the others, but still needed nonetheless. Balance doesn’t mean having everything in equal amounts, it means to have enough of the various components of life to be in harmony (spiritually, academically, financially, physically, and emotionally).

So today take some time out to start the ball rolling on how you will define your life. It’ll take some time and plenty of thought. As for myself, I’ve got a rough definition and am still working on it.

Hope this post has been helpful,

Straight From The Heart

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6 Other similar, connected or helpful posts 🙂

Don’t Settle
Goals & Resolutions
Work in Progress, I am
Personal Productivity
Better Than Yesterday, Always.
Denting The Universe
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