Wasted Talent, Man!

On October 8, 2009, In Blog, By Philip Khor

I’m not sure who said this, could be Jay-Z during the rapper’s pre-song rant.

“WASTED talent, man!”

Two stories I wanna share with you.

1. A lot of people go online, go to the forums, and rant about how sucky our society has become. We lament the increasing crime rates, and how our society has deteriorated macam 3rd world country. We blame the cops for bribery, we blame the government for wastage of funds, we accuse politicians of doing shit that might not be true, but we hear these stories from some of our “close circles” and distort the facts beyond the truth. I can imagine that if one day I become politician and say I wanna bom KL the local SWAT team will come pick me up when in actual fact I need to excrete fecal matter.

We think we have the answers to everything; a solution to every problem. A friend’s Lambo broke down. All of a sudden, there’s 10 mechanical engineers on site instructing what he should do. Some gives half-truths, some make REALLY good stories and some just want to give in their 2 sen and rub shoulders with the rich kid. When a friend have a headache, then we have 10 doctors on site. All the time, guaranteed.

When doctors give advise, they are liable to be sued if the misdiagnose. They are very petulant and careful when checking out the patient. Same with Lambo engineers, its million ringgit cars we’re talking about.

But when a friend gives you advise….. ??

And that’s story number one.

2. There is a Google UK beatbox video more commonly known as “sickest shit you’ll ever see”.

As I watched it again, I look down and lo-and-behold I was wearing my black Google shirt. Man… I really gotta get myself hooked up to the Google-world. Best place to work in the world, until they cancel their European ski trip, which bump them down to 4th best place to work :P hahaha….

The guys at Google are indeed talented. The organisation is as respected as it is today because of its workers and the work ethics. Whatever roles they are playing, however miniscule it may be, it gels together and makes up a one big master piece that we see at http://google.com

One of my problems is that I’m opinionated. I like to take opium.

Ok, not really. I like to get my voice heard. In the past it has got me into trouble, serious trouble. Asians in general are not ready to hear harsh words even if its the truth. In our world, feeling are more important than, say, progress, or human advancement. That’s how it worked, and that’s how it generally is. It seems to be working, if we look at China, Japan, Hong Kong and dare I say, Singapore.

But lets face it. We still don’t have the fun work environment like in the UK or US. Either that or, our boss expect his employees to enjoy the Britney song “I’m a Slave 4 U!”

One of my best memories was in high school. A friend moved to a international school in form 2, and came back in form 4 to visit. The first thing I said when I saw her in the canteen is, “Hey! You’re so fat!!!”. At least 20 people heard it, thank GOD she took it lightly. But yes… just saying lah.

Today’s sermon is: Yes, you are talented. If you think you don’t have a talent, you are not yet tapping into the one big thing that will eventually make you rich and famous. But with great powers come great responsibilities. Be accountable for your advise, and be cautious that whatever you say things that will affect your friends decision. Getting your point across is one thing. Forcing it down his throat, against his beliefs or previous pre-conceptions and understandings? Well, that’s abit dangerous. And it requires a bit of thinking as to whether your words are:

1. beneficial

2. relevant

3. SMART (systematic, measurable, attainable, realistic, timeframe)

Comments? Mail me at pip@thepippo.com (Facebook / MSN)

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Beware of the Crazy Man trap

On May 20, 2009, In Blog, By Pippo

Here are some helpful tip I’ve learnt from my past experience.

Basically, the “Crazy Man trap” is when a shrink (psychologist) traps you and try to classify you as having a mental disorder. A lot of things you say, as well as your body language will help the shrink determine what problem you have. It is only fair that you know how to avoid falling into their trap.

1. The first thing they’ll say is, “Are you depressed?”
Ok. Even if you are NOT, don’t say so. An instant, firm and aggressive “NO!” reply is not exactly an ideal answer. He will interprete it as “Denial”, which is… yupp, you’ve guessed it, “the FIRST sign” of depression, mania, bipolar, ADD or whatever BS they come up with.
How to approach? Change topic. Tell them about your day. Tell them the bad things that happen in the week. Acknowledge that the past few days haven’t been exactly great. Then move on from there.

2. Provocation
During the course of the Interview / Interrogation, the shrink will try to evoke your emotions and gauge for a response.You HAVE to show anger, but make sure its controlled. Like, if your girlfriend left you, you must pretend to cry. No tears also must cry. If you show no emotion, they will interprete it as…. ok, I’m not so clear, but its BAD if you don’t show emotion.

3. Speech
Talk slowly. A simple rule-of-thumb I use is, that once the question is asked, I count one-missisipi-two-m-3 until 5, then I think. Then only I talk. If you try to pre-empt the shrink, not only will he find out you’re too sexcited, he will think you have symtoms of mania, by which you can’t control the energy inside you. Mania is a serious problem because too much energy makes you think of crazy shit, then you think you’re on top of the world, everything also can do, etc. etc.

4. Back to denial.
Do not deny. Do not try to lie to them. Trust me, you WILL phail.
Be honest, and if its too personal, just tell them so.

5. Future appointments
Don’t be shy to approach a shrink. They’re very knowledgable people who knows shitloads about life, how to handle emotions and much much more. Set an appointment for 2 weeks time, then come back, and gauge your mental state of mind. It would be great to keep track of your progress.

An alternative to psychological visits, you can go for Counselling at the hospital. There are many helpful people there who can talk to, and have ALMOST THE WHOLE DAY just talking to you.

Ok, the above tips are just guides, and by no means complete or accurate. Use at your own discretion. If you still don’t feel easy at heart, think GOD is talking to you, hear voices, see visions… its GOOD to double-check with your psychologists first, then your pastors. Just my 2 sen lah :)
;)

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Failure before success

On April 20, 2009, In Blog, By Pippo

Failure before success

[edited 22/04/2009 with more Information]

During my meeting with Adeline Chong, we learnt from one another a lot of things. Among the things discussed was life, business, friendships, and the one that I’m excited about, failure (phailure, phailed, phail, you get the idea).

Abit about Adeline. During her Primary 6 exam (the trials), all students were mixed up sorted alphabetically across the 4 classes in our school (Red, Green, Blue, Yellow). Due to some administrative cock up, they (actually Mr. Tiwary, the Senior Assistant) decided to put Adeline in an all boys class. I’m guessing it was the 2nd class lah (in order), so I was there cuz my name is Philip (P) and she was at the last spot since its Adeline (A). <- ok, that was being TOO specific unnecessarily. Or unnecessarily too specific!

Adeline Wept.

Upon reflection, back then it wasn’t kewl to mix with guys. Don’t know why lah, but she didn’t feel comfortable having all that attention, I guess.

The Future Queen of Brunei, now Princess Sarah [wiki: Pengiran Anak Sarah | Crown Prince of Brunei] was her classmate (thus my schoolmate). My portfolio of friends from Brunei include, a lawyer, family doctor for the royal family, someone to take care of the nutritional needs of the country as well as to control epidemics, the ministers of foreign affairs and minister of defence (tactical), we’ve got a soldier (possibly an army general), more backup doctors and dentists, a couple of engineers (mechanical and the construction type), people in IT and Telecommunications, a professional vocalist, we’ve got all our bases covered. I find myself as the advisor to the Minister of Finance (also the Sultan) on how to manage people and money.

If Brunei were to start a war with Sarawak (oil or territorial issues), we got the backend support to get it done. OK, 25% of those mentioned are Malaysians lah, but still, product of the BEST school of that time, St. Andrew’s School.

It surprises me to see some contrasting fortunes for different personality types. I for one, was quite “promising” (hehe, self praise). I was top 10 throughout Primary School and within the top half in Secondary School. 2005 I flunked Engineering Diploma, 2006 my TER for an Aussie Matriculation was a pathetic 70+ where most friends get 85 and above, mostly in the 95 and above range. I flunked Finance (twice) and skipped a semester (thats about RM 11,000 + RM 5500). Hospital bills due to this failure (long story), also 5-figures.

A playful boy (that we all know and love back in high school) ends up being a decently successful engineer. A good looking guy (said by many) became a pilot flying in Newcastle Upon Tyne somewhere in London. We’ve got lots of Aussie graduates from Monash, Perth and of course, the overhyped, overpriced Melbourne U. My IT partner for all the school IT projects didn’t persue this useless course (of IT) but went for something so canggih it blows my mind away. He’ll be the future tactician for the Brunei army.

God works in mysterious ways.

The failures. So far only a handful have shared their so-called “failures” with me. I wouldn’t call it a failure because it is just a stepping stone to success. Sounds cliche (Gail – for you Arsenal fans) but I really believe its true. God has a greater plan in store for you.

I’m speaking for myself here when I say that “everyone has a rough patch in their life, especially during tertiary education”. All the mixed emotions, hormonal and biological changes (sic boobs, man boobs included) as well as our surroundings.

According to the 5-minute presentation entitled “Do You Know”, back in 1900, they say a week’s worth of New York Times is more information that any living human being will encounter throughout his lifespan. They predict in 2009, about 4,000,000 Terabytes of unique information will be produced. Ok, so the number is skewed due to the huge Science and research databases, and all those Sarah Palin porn. But isn’t it amazing?

Everyone deserves a second chance. Being a high flier in Kindergarden and Primary School does not guarantee future success. I feel I’m lucky considering that I hit my peak in the critical stages of my life. Its like going 3-0 down on halftime to win it on penalties in the end. That’s how I feel my life is. Its all about finishing strong in life.

Aim high. Don’t settle for mediocrisy. It may sound way off but my financial goals in life is to earn 5-figures off the bat, millionaire in 24 months and billionaire in 8 years. I won’t settle for a 12 hour 6 day week stressful job paying rm 6 an hour plus benefits (once u break it down) and having to put up with shitty bosses. Heck no.

I feel that in life, we are limited by the limits we were implanted with by the rich and successful. If everyone’s a boss, who will be the employees? Who will be the garbage collectors and waiter / waitresses of the society? Who will fix our Astro, and clean up our sewerage and be our doorman and drivers and amahs?

We were born naked and equal. So too will we die naked and equal.

Life is like a game of dice. 6 possibilities, everybody on earth has an equal chance. Breaking down the math, yes, there are various variables and environmental factors. Whatever your roll was, there are about a billion people just like you. Its what you do with your life and the ways you impacted this world that will be remembered by history.

Bottom line

1. If you’ve experience a huge failure in life, pick your self up. Give yourself time and never ever give up.

2. If you’re still high flying, and everything is rosey for you, thank God for it. I believe you will be successful. But prepare yourself for failure. You can never be too prepared for that.

3. Outward appearance does not truly reflect how a person is currently feeling; the problems he is facing. In the words of The Killers – “Are we human, or are we dancers?”

4. Remove negative feelings. Go jogging, dancing or gymming. And don’t forget to reward yourself with Haagen Daaz or Carl’s Jr once a while. Open up to the world and embrace the fallen nature due to our forefathers. No one is perfect. Acknowledge that we have fallen. Acknowledge that we make mistakes. Acknowledge that we are not always right.

5. Never give up. Never lose hope. Encourage, don’t pull people down with your negativity.

Orinigally posted by Phailed Pippo
20-April-2009

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