still developing my 7 kunci…. going on to my 6th kunci. Yes!! two more to go.

not so alone now, three senior staffs are in. the rest somewhere around the building.

reporting live from my workspace. am doing some developmental work 7 kunci kejayaan for …. which will be utilised by …. I have a self-appointed dateline and putting my whole mind and heart (body not cooperating because of hunger pangs, already!! only @ 11.36am!!) to this task that i want to complete by 5.30 pm today. am so hyped to finish it up. it’s fun and am having a treasure hunt game with my faithful companion, which makes me in awe of it, the Qur’an is always full of surprises!

me and four walls, the rest of the office are in a meeting. my media player on volume 3, fyi, no rock and noise songs, more of the relaxing kind of songs.

ok ok, going back to my 7 kunci!

I miss having my own table, cluttered with books and notes to read. having my own time to spend just studying. i.miss.this.

Top 20 Qualities of Smart People
By: Michelle Casto
Adapted from http://www.hitechtrainer.fitpromag.com

In today’s competitive world, it pays to be smart. No matter how smart you are, I am sure there is something you could “get smarter” about. Below are some qualities of smart people. As you read the list, ask yourself: Am I as smart as I could be in this area? How could I get smarter?

1. Make Decisions Intuitively

Smart people listen to and follow their intuition. They know how intuitions and insights come to them and are tuned-in internally to make wise decisions.

2. Are Self-Aware

Smart people are aware of who they are— strengths, weaknesses, personality, values, etc. As Confucious once said, “He who knows others is wise, he who knows himself is enlightened,” they know that the most important (and interesting) thing to know about is “self.”

3. Use Active Reflection

Smart people reflect on and learn from past experiences, finding out what works and what doesn’t, and then adjusts their course of action as needed. They think about things before jumping in, and also take the time after-the-fact to actively reflect to fully understand what happened or didn’t happen.

4. Think Out-of-Box

Smart people can easily entertain new ideas, thoughts, and ways of doing things. They crave progressive and forward thinking information, concepts, and people. They often come up with new and radical ideas on a regular basis.

5. Have An Open-Mind

Smart people are open to different perspectives and see potential where most people don’t. They would agree with what the quote, “A mind is like a parachute, it only functions when it is open.” They are comfortable with paradoxes and can relate to many sides of an issue or opinion.

6. Are Responsive

Smart people recognize and respond quickly to opportunities and people. They act and react fast, and take care of what needs to be taken care-of, well ahead of schedule.

7. Are Resourceful

Smart people don’t have to know it all, but they do know where to go to get whatever information, resources, training, education that they need. They are well-networked and have people to call on for resource referrals.

8. Question Authority

Smart people think for themselves. They do not blindly believe things so-called “experts” say, in fact, they ask deep questions to discover their own truth.

9. Upgrade Their Brain

Smart people stay smart because they are committed to being a lifelong learner. They continuously learn new things, and stay current with their skills, attitudes, and beliefs.

10. Have a Sense of Humor

Smart people do not take themselves or life too seriously. They recognize the importance of finding the fun in the irony and the comedy of everyday life.

11. Take Risks

Smart people are willing to try out new things, knowing that if it doesn’t work out as intended, failure is often cleverly disguised as a learning opportunity. They “swing out there” often, and it usually pays off.

12. Trust Themselves

Smart people believe and trust themselves first and foremost. They don’t have to check with others to make decisions, they instinctively know what is right for them and they go for it!

13. Write and List Things on Paper

Smart people have a well-developed life strategy that includes a written life vision/mission, purpose, and goals statement. They also write lists—one for “have to’s” and one for “want to’s.”

14. Are Productive

Smart people get things done, through whatever organizational/time management system that works for them. They make the most of each day and take action on important life tasks each and everyday.

15. Use Discernment

Smart people are able to discern (see clearly) other’s reasons and motives, so they selectively choose who and what to align themselves with. They surround themselves with only the highest quality people, programs, and places.

16. Read, Read, Read

Smart people tap into the collective brain power of others by reading books, magazines, articles—anything that is helpful for their own development. They are also able to filter out the information that fits for them and let the rest go.

17. Value Learning

Smart people value the process of learning for learning’s sake. They do not just learn for a specific end—to get a certificate, degree, title, etc. They learn because it is intrinsically rewarding for them.

18. Teach Others

Smart people are the teachers of the world, who share their knowledge with other people. They put themselves out there so the rest of us can benefit, and in exchange, their own learning grows and develops because they are actively talking about, researching, and understanding their subject.

19. Reinvent Themselves

Smart people do not like to stay the same, they love to grow and develop. They often play with their image, brand, company name, and expand or change it entirely. To stay ahead of the game, they often reinvent themselves time and time again.

20. Are Students of Life

Smart people not only know about specific subjects and topics, but also about what it means to be a human being at this time in our evolution. They are insatiably curious and want to know more about becoming bigger and brighter, as a result they naturally evolve.

As Lao Tzu said, “To gain knowledge, add things everyday. To gain wisdom, remove things everyday.” This is so true, our brain is like a computer and in order for it to function at a higher level, we must always be adding, while simultaneously taking away information that no longer serves us. Think about it, what do you want to remove from your database? And, what new software program will you replace it with?

…separated from its kittens.

it’s breaking my heart. i never thought that i would feel sad, or touched by this.

o’shea gave birth to the third generation of cats. two cute little kittens. bubble and jes, we called them. white bubble and spotty jes, bubble looks so much like it’s grandpa Nyek and jes a mix of its mother o’shea and father jack.
having lost three cats, o’shea’s ‘siblings,’ the cute kittens brought some ‘happiness’. why lost? well, they just ran away, without a word. they like to wander out, but one day, they never came back.

now, bubble and jes are one month old already, and it’s so fun to watch them jumping around, playing with o’shea, which always seem like ‘talking’ motherly to her kittens. licking them lovingly. the kittens are so eager to go around the house, but her call would always bring them back to her.

well, my parents are getting tired of caring for cats, so we had them kittens up for adoption. well today, my sister’s friend adopted them both. i know they are going to be in a good home, cared for and will be loved. but it’s kind of sad thinking they won’t grow up ‘remembering’ us, we welcomed them to this world one month ago. they won’t be playing around the house anymore. and little white bubble won’t be following me around the house every morning. and jes won’t be jumping around trying to catch our attention.

and o’shea pleas tonight sounds more heartbreaking. looking for her kittens, calling for bubble and jes. she sounded so sad. she’s restless. nuri and edid had been comforting her since siti’s friend came to take bubble and jes away. stroking and hushing her to stop calling.

it breaks the heart.

Tomorrow’s the start of Ramadhan….time flies fast that without us knowing it’s ramadhan already. most noble month of the Islamic year. and truthfully, i wasn’t ready for it. day in day out working all WEEK long, i didn’t realise it’s puasa time already. it’s not a dread. NO NO. i was always the one excited to puasa, counting the days to ramadhan, only this time, i wasn’t waiting for it, it came knocking to my door. Lord, how careless we became in the pursuit of making a living~~ it’s about time i turn my attention to my spiritual needs.

agendas for the month:

detox detox detox

detox in the physical sense – there’s too much sugar and fats in my body, i can almost imagine my intestines dreaming of green leafy vegetables, red tomatoes, juicy honeydews, orange carrots.

me and my sis are going vegan this month!!!! ….well…try to… but we hope to have more vege-servings larrr.

appointments with Lord.

ok ok shopping for raya which will not be much, keyword for the year is SIMPLE>> and i’ve spent more on other things, so way over budget oredi~

things i’ll miss for the month :
my Season’s Iced Lemon Tea,I’m your favourite Lemon Tea-olic, and with my detox agenda, trying to cut on drinking too much on it (mcm nak kena rehab pulak)
and curry O/pepper O/fried prawns from….
and chicken pies/peach pies/pastries from Polar Cakes!!

and eclaires~~~uwwwaaa

I know I know, it’s not like i couldn’t eat them at all~ can always buy for buka!! dekat jer pun, neighbourhood delicacies only @ hougang point. ahaks!! ( note: detox, girl, detox!!)

to all Muslims, my friends, wherever you are, selamat menyambut ramadhan, ramadhan mubarak. may all our deeds be accepted, a beautiful month for everything beautiful, of the heart, mind, body and soul. Insya Allah.

The map, as best as i could using the mouse.

Well….sajer nak citer. tak pernah umur naik taxi kena fare $2.50~ Sekali dalam hidup jer ni.

FYI, my test was great. Got good grades even though the questions were more on technical stuffs and customer service manners. listening test was booorrrriing, having to listen to british-accented conversations, numeracy test was mind boggling!! dah lamer babe tinggalkan maths!!
but it’s done and over with. so i’m a certified computer adaptive, i know my maths, i know my english and i’m definitely not deaf!

oklaaa, off to sleep~

yey!!! new pic’s up for a change. it’s blue. it’s love and there’s a girl somewhere out there living life but not looking for love. why, you asked? I don’t know, it’s just a choice i made at this point of time. i got love from my family, from my friends. i guess love from them is enough for the moment. and for the record, am conservative, old-fashioned in these kinds of things, and sometimes i just can’t be bothered, because guys i’ve liked, guys i don’t like, guys i don’t know like me, guys i don’t know hate me, they just…….sudah lah, buat penat pikir jer.

spread some luuurrrrrrvvvvvvve.

hmm, girls, i heard the news, about the postponement of the most anticipated event for the sisters ever, sisters cultural night~ it’s a shockingly sad news and seeing your pics of practising at the CC, your happiness and your smiles, and yeah, dengar-dengar buat seluar lagik~ but hey, no frets, can still practice more, cantikkan lagi dikir baratnya and so on.

and think about it, if next sem, might as well next year, and by then, maybe i got some ‘free’ time then can come down to watch you girls perform!! macam vip maner jer!~ ahakzz

Better still, you could concentrate on your studies now, exams in a few weeks’ time. You GO GIRLS!! wishing you an advanced ALL THE BEST. my prayers with you. when things seem to go wrong, like a Mr Karno said, think of the good things, talk on the nice and memorable moments. and i think that worked. some things just don’t deserved space in our brain nerves. right??

sooooo loooonnnnggg. tak sabar nak ramadhan!!!

I won a BMW 5 series 550i M sport saloon car, and not only that, add up £500,000….Can you believe the luck??!! First time I got the email from INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION DEPARTMENT OF THE BMW AUTOMOBILE COMPANY UK-Based, warmly congratulating me on this windfall. What luck!!! I still can’t believe it!!

But wait!!! Since when did I participate in any contest??? UK-Based somemore… How the hell did my company email add got thru to UK??? For all concerned, my email add has been to mosques and organisations…and then I was asked to forward that email to a Mr ****Cox, for consignment or delivery purposes. What the heck, i have to do the forwarding??? why don’t you do it yourself??? for some big company, BMW somemore, that doesn’t sound so systematic and ‘customer-friendly’. As far as my experiences taught me, you DON’T ask your customer to do the ‘work’~

For the benefit of doubt, I replied to that email, forward it, gave some particulars. and waited. I got a reply from them, confirming once again about my winning, but then I have to fill up a beneficiary form, which I do not understand the very purpose of that, but again, i read the whole thing and surprise2, right at the very end of this beneficiary form, it says something about having to include an amount of money for authorisation. guess the amount of money???

its a 7 DIGIT amount! which will look like this: 1, 234, 567, in euro currency at that!! not indonesian nor malaysian nor singapore dollars. kalau in rupiah pun, mana ada orang duit banyak gitu?? lainlah kalau the rich and famous kan~ nak gali kubur cari duit?? HEH, what the????

Tak syak lagi lah, must be some scam. you know those scams promising prizes and thousands of money when actually, we are the ones forking out and stupidly pay them, just so, just so, we could get hold of those ‘far-reaching’ prizes!! I’m majorly pissed.
I even received a call from the heavily accented mr cox, asking me how am i planning to get my CAR delivered. how should i know?? i thought for being in such a big company, they would be the ones dealing with all these procedures. I told him let me think about it.

He called again today, but i wasn’t at home, thank God, but he emailed me asking me to call him and inform him on what the next step would be. Eh, how would I know??? Lord, he sound like a stalker.

With just that ‘authorisation’ amount, it just clicked, its a scam alright! who do they think i am? just because we’re from singapore, we might not know about this sort of ‘business’. hey tolonglah, are you living in your anglo-saxon times?? this is not a new thing.

For us, if we all could recall, there was a scam African-based, and quite a number of people got cheated out of it. Even my father, almost, almost got cheated. A few years back, got a letter saying my father won some large amount of money form whatever contest, Spain-based. We checked and surfed the net, emailed some singapore-based company, which goes with the same name, and they replied saying to have heard of no such thing. Oh better, we got hold of the very company, same name and all, but DIFFERENT LOGO, we inquired, related to them the scenario, and a reply came, saying that they had been aware of some scam business going on using their name and urged us to stop corresponding with the pseudo company. HAH!!
We even faxed and called all the way to Spain, just to have the benefit of the doubt. As soon as they say we had to send in some money for their ‘procedures’ we just stop. and i remembered one month later, my parents went to our trusty Post Office, seeking assistance to check up on the addresses, fax and telephone numbers and whatnots, and surprise2, they no longer exist!!

I just can’t believe these scheming cheating people. What if someone out there is naive enough to believe and follow all those many steps and levels of procedures, forking out money every single step!!!

I emailed BMWgroup based in Singapore, inquiring them about this winning and prizes. waiting for a reply from them.

Hish, leceh betullah orang2 ni. tetiba jer nak menipu orang! me of all the billions of people world citizens.