A malaysian man, apparently fearing he had too much to drink, tried to play it safe by bribing a policeman to avoid a breathalyser test. It turned out he passed the test which showed Aw Cheng Fatt’s blood level was, in fact, within permissible limits, but he was fined for bribery.

…idiot…

Disclaimer. This entry is about what I have learnt through the book. It is not everything that is written in the book. But what I have extracted and absorbed intellectually, expressing them in my own words.

This part is not about the actual 7 habits, but it does encompass some of the theories on which the 7 habits are based on, and I think it is imperative that it is understood before actually going on to the habits.

First of all, the 7 habits are not the usual quick fix solutions popular in the market to day, like “get rich quick” or “be a millionarre in 10 days” or stuff like that. The author labels these popular theories as “Personality Ethics”. Get that in your head cos we’re gonna be seeing that term alot today.

Instead, his 7 habits are based on another theories called “Character Ethics” (remember this too). The difference? personality ethics make you take on a personality either already present in you, dormant in you, or entirely alien to you, in a sense forcing you to take an identity which puts you in a position to gain the goals you want or need either manipulatively or “unscrupulously”. It works to a certain extent. Let’s look at this with an illustration of you being the leader of a project group. You use personality ethics to gain more productivity, and you get certain superficial results like higher work quality, punctuality and higher marks for the project. But look at the long term, and you see team mates looking at you with distrust and disloyalty, maybe even lose a friend. Why? Because your personality, did not come from your character. Thus, they see you as ungenuine, manipulative and deceptive.

Character, is the root of your Personality, planted in the soil, or foundation, based on Principles of the universally accepted framework of how things such as influence, leadership and trust works. How can we build a building upon a weak or non existent foundation? The arguement is that to make a true, lasting difference in our lives, to solve problems once and for all, we must first adopt proper principles into our lives (I would like to highlight the principle of human dignity and integrity), which will then forge our inward attitudes, and our outward behaviour. This takes time. But it is firstly, I find, the right way to do things, and it is the best way to do things.

How often do we give up our dream (to have a house, a car, a career). and we don’t live the dream because we want things here and now, our way, instead of going the proper way about things, having patience, endurance, diligence to persue what we want. How often do we apply short-term solutions to long-term goals? We must take steps one at a time – the way it was always meant to be - this is a Principle. It does not change.

Same for effective spirituality. We must sow to reap. How often do we want more of God and His blessings, when we do not sow His seeds? How often are we more concerned about our outward spirituality than we are about inward spirituality?

To sum up. To be effective at all, we must first work on our character, through the first three habits, before anything else. We don’t have to have perfect character, but we must at least be aware of its importance and begin working on it.

A quick update on my life (I know. Time is money. So I’ll make it quick):

My cell grp member, Sandy, is transferring to her finance’s CG. So I’m helping to make a farewell gift for her. I won’t tell you what it is just in case she discovers this blog.
My driving is over and done with but my test is in January. Believe me, God has been good to give me that date. It could have been much, much worse.
NS is coming in another half a year, just booked a medical exam date in Dec.

I have just received inspiration! (abruptly random exclamation)

It’s true! I know what to write for my next blog entry!

I’ll let you all in on the scoop. 1st Oct was my sis’ birthday. I got her this book - 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. And it suddenly occurred to me like, a second ago, that I could read the book since I have so much free time and my job doesn’t require much of me, and I could share what I have read right here on this blog! I can make it into a series of 7 blog entries, each focusing on one of the 7 habits! Then people will read my blog, and become more effective people in the society! I can actually change the world!

I’m off to start on research for my next entry. So don’t give up on me or my fermenting blog yet.
 

So what did woman have dominion over since “man” ruled over everything?

There was nothing left.

Except…

man.

Check out this interesting (albeint long) MSN conversation I had with Peiluan: (her words are in pink n mine in blue)
To the uninitiated, NS = National Service
Disclaimer: Permission was granted b4 publication of this conversation.

————————-

but now i just wanna get my dip n further my study

get a fresh start

yeah

me too

if i cant squeeze my way into smu, i’d happily go to sim

haha, then i think we will be sch mates again

maybe for one yr

haha

ns rmbr ns

haha

maybe i will wait till end of nxt yr then enrol

hiatus?

roam the world?

i want to make sure i get my black belt b4 i go overseas

i’ve calculated if i enrol nxt jul/aug, i won’t be able to get my black belt

meanwhile i think i just get a job, save for my sch fees n all

sounds like a good idea. man they should haf more black belts like you in the army. we need people like you all

hahhaha

y?

ok look. basic miltary training? is jus to get us in bare minimal physical condition. look at us. we slog day and night just to pass our ippt. after that, we work as cheap labour for civil defence

we haf no actual combat experience

tt’s where u guys come in

hahahah

well, to mould u guys

yeah

temporarily

we come out after our ORD, den we immerse ourselves in all e luxuries deprived to us during ns

and you get pot bellied reservists

seriously, i (don’t) mind working in e army

but e prospect for female isn’t very gd

now it isnt

wad we need is a pioneer

someone to put her foot down and say “i can do what ever u men can do and do it better”

hahhaha

well….i (don’t) think i wanna be e pioneer

gather all ur women friends! u women need to put us men in our place

errr, is not going to work

they wouldn’t want to go ns

they rather die i think

girls are obviously much better at it…hai…

too bad

it’s just 2 yrs

haha i know

im just whining cos i realize i dun do enuff of it

=x

so how’s ur napfa training coming along?

working on pullups and jump now. pull up almost there…jump still underway

looong way tt is

u still hav time

no frets

yup. gotta work hard for 2 yrs of fitness

hahah, i’m sure it is worth it

yeah its like the singaporean ritual for initiating boys to manhood

that’s our culture

meanwhile u still hav abt a yr to enjoy ur freedom

haha

true true

i shall savour it

sigh o well i guess its fair…we get ns and reservist, u get child birth and maternity

yeahh

but the pain women hav to go thru i think is more than men

e things we need to sacrifice

i rather be a man

well, u get to live longer if it counts for anything…

and times haf changed. not every woman has children nowadays

haahah, but i think i would want to hav my own kids

then u better set e score straight with ur husband

u go through child birth, so u get to win the fights

and all e tender loving care he can give

and the occassional diamonds and flowers and shoes

hhahaha

yeahhh, that’s a gd one

no matter what, i win e fight cos i hav to go thru child birth

i like that

tt’s right

tts we men always sleep on e couch

its nv e woman

even if the woman is in e wrong, its e men who auto sleep on e couch

so much so tt we love our couches. tts e only thing we really own in e hse

hahaha

yeahh

so nxt time invest abit more in ur couch

it’s gonna be ur best friend in e future

———-end———-

Thanks to Peiluan for her time and thoughts

So what happened to our childhood heroes? They may have been immortalized in our minds, but where are they now? What are they doing with their lives? What do they look like?

Red Ranger Jason, starring Austin St. John - Before:                       

After: I was truly sad when i saw this pic taken at a Power Rangers convention.

Blue Ranger Billy, starring David Yost - Before:

After: Hey, a receding hairline can be sexy. He’s still in showbiz, mainly as a producer, doing pretty well.

Black Ranger Zack, starring Walter - Before:

After: Quit the Power Rangers due to arguements related to pay. He’s a professional dancer and a minor actor. Good real life friends with red ranger Austin John.

Pink Ranger Kimberly, starring Amy Jo Johnson – Before:

After: Probably the most prolific of all. Professional songwriter/singer, released two albums, starred in award winning drama Felicity.

Green/White Ranger Tommy, starring Jason Frank – Before:

After: Went on to film many other Power Rangers series. Created his own mixed martial arts style. Made it into the World Karate Union Hall of Fame in 2003.

Yellow Ranger Trini, starring Thuy Trang – Before:

After: Tragedy struck her at age 27. Thuy Trang passed away in a car accident.

Tribute…I miss seeing you guys every saturday morning…

 

Movie Review: Evan Almighty

My Rating: 4/5

Supposedly the sequel to Bruce Almighty. However, I was unable to draw clear comparisons with its predecessor. Reason being, it is almost wrong to label it as a sequel. It could qualify as a whole new movie altogether, albeit with a similar theme.

Still, Steve Carrel has some big shoes to fill. Thankfully, he does not try to be Jim Carrey, and he doesn’t have to. Carrel possesses a style of his own. Carrel’s style is to bring out the comedy in the movie, while Carrey, IS the comedy. Don’t attempt to judge the two based on each other. It will only spoil your movie experience. (Moreover, my fave actor in the film was Morgan Freeman.)

In terms of storyline, Evan Almighty is much less teary/touching than whatever remnants of it Bruce Almighty possessed, but a rather solid storyline nonetheless. It is not predictable, and is not cliche, unless done tastefully. However, the humour & context of the story may be hard to grasp without prior Bible knowledge.

Last words. A very enjoyable movie. You will laugh. You will be entertained.

On that note, couple of people I have to thank that have been with me the entire study period, caring for me, looking out for me, praying for me, blessing me.

God. For being eternally awesome.
Cassandra. For the hours spent in Mac’s making sure I studied, being such a joy. All the best for your final paper tmr!
Wei Leong, Nurul & Edwin. For the exam tips I would have otherwise been oblivious to.
CG. I’m so thankful for your prayers I’m gonna mention every single one of you even if you don’t happen to read this. Leah (sorry guys, love for leaders. Gotta put her first), Sandy, Standen, Kennick, Xinyao, Clara, Diana, Adeline, Zhihua, Wayne, Eileen, Billy, Tim, Gracie and last, but definitely not least, Gloria in Aus.

That’s all, including my parents for giving me life.

3 months of holidays what am I going to do?
1. Gather some people, meet up with Chung Siong.
2. Get my driving license. To complete my transition from boy to man.
3. Offer guitar lessons to anyone who has confidence that I will be a good teacher. (F-O-C)
4. Try out for ministry.
5. Train to get gold for NAPFA.

Right now I’m looking for ad-hoc jobs, to earn some pocket money. Any kang tau do let me know.

Now excuse me while I enjoy some Dolce Vita.

BTW:
Happy Birthday Mohan! You handsome lad, you.
&
I’ve updated my “About” section for your entertainment.

So, this is my first blog ever, and you’re reading my very first entry (you lucky person, you)! Already you are equating in your mind the things you could have done which would probably be better than reading this right now. But since you’ve already wasted 30 seconds of your life, what’s a few more minutes, yeah?

DISCLAIMER: I am not a techno-phobe, neither am I computer illiterate. I’m starting a blog only now because I just didn’t feel like it before. I’m aware that blogging existed in the early part of this century. But I am new to this blog thing so if you know how to work stuff like blog skins, tagboards or html, I’m open to advice.

Why do I want to start a blog? Firstly school holidays are coming and I have all the time in the world to blog. 2nd, I figured if the Prime Minister of Thailand could have his own web domain, why not me? 3rd, for friends who are going on IPP and OIPP soon, I hope my blog can be a source of entertainment for you. But most of all, there’s so much crazy stuff going on that I just wanna talk about:
Like how Singaporeans now are living waaaaaay too long. 80 is the average now if I’m not mistaken. A few years back it was just 61!
The U.S. dollar is dropping, much to Jack’s displeasure. 
There are politicians who actually want to contest for a place in the government of the biggest political mess in S.E.Asia which is Thailand.
India wants to build a nuclear power plant after all that fuss to get N.Korea to shut down theirs. The people in the UN are tearing the hair out.
But the top pick for today is the warrant for Saddam Hussein’s daughter’s arrest! Obviously digging a hole in the ground won’t be an option anymore.

I guess a blog’s about the writer’s personal life after all. So just to let you know, I’m in the middle of my exams (to all NYP students – all the best!). I’m doing fine with my papers so far (many many thanks to my CG for all the prayers!) and I’ve got my final paper coming up on Thurs. Wish me luck.

*Shout-outs to:
Cassandra: Hey, dear! I got my first blog!
Denny and Candice: Congratualations! Many good times ahead.