Friday, August 28, 2015

Ghostly stories

This is a continuation from my "encounter of the third kind ".

During lunch , my new lady banker told me that recently she has a funny experience in a parking lot. She tried to start her car but it won't start and her radio suddnely came alive . After she took out her key, the car engine starts. This happening was too much for her and she has no explanation about it.

The next incident was on her way to a dinner and her car have to pass through a dark and lonely lane . While she stopped to adjust her car, she suddenly saw a very old man walking pass her and she was so scare as her eery feeling got over her.

To make the case more interesting, I also told her about my encounter . On the third day of my mother-in-law's funeral , I tried to start my DVD for a show . I switch on the the TV , the DVD machine and as usual put in the disc and sit back to watch.  But the show did not come on and I tried so many times, taking it out and switching on and off the machine but in vain.  I called a technician and went  back upstair to wait for him. On arrival , he pressed the door bell, I went down stairs to receive him.  He came in and switch on the TV and the DVD player and start the player with the same DVD and the show immediately come on.  I was speechless and dumbfounded  and cold sweat start drip under my T-shirt.  What is happening ?  The technician have no answer and I was too scare to talk .

This kind of encounters really make me wonder : Is there something outside ? Though we cannot see, it does not mean that it does not exit .

I remembered of a story told by Ajahn Brahman , a Thai forest monk.  There was a monk who sits down and  closed his eyes to meditate.  Suddently, he heard a noice from far and he control his mind and keep his eye closed.  The noise starts to become loud and loud .  He visualize a mouse initially , then into a cat as it gets near and then a tiger as the noise gets nearer and louder. Finally, he open his mind , it was only a tiny mice. So, we can see that this is the work of the mind. The minid keep us misinterpreting the signs and causing the fear in us to grow. Things are not what it  seems to be at a glance for most of the time and the Mind often mislead us.

Namaste.

My encounter with a "third kind "

Today, I met a new banker from CIMB. She was all prepared to discuss business but I choose to discuss yoga and golf with her. I told her that we cannot talk business straight away if we don't know each other.

When she was talking about golf , suddenly I ask her a question " are you single ?"  She replied that she is not married . I was caught by surprise . My question was " are you single handicap ?  The answer draw red faces but I ignored the embarrassment. I remembered about a lecture many years ago by my former Japanese colleague. He asked me how I will re-act in a situation.

The puzzle is : If you went into a wrong toilet and you saw a women naked taking a bath , how would you re-act ? Many answered that they will apologize to the women and will quickly get out of the bath room. Is this the best answer ??

No ! , you should ignore her and go on with your own business and walk out if you have finished without saying a word. You have to behave naturally and there is nothing to be a shame of a naked body. You see one , you see all.

Today, I received a SMS from a colleague.  The message goes like this :

I tendered my resignation to day and I give due notice.  My management have asked me to arrange a meeting with you to discuss who will handle my job.  Miss ABC

I was shocked after reading the message and there was no indication from Miss ABC during our interaction today in the office. I tried to call her but her phone was not reacheable and I SMS her and there was no reply. After biting my lips for sometime, she SMS me.

" Sorry.  Message was from a vendor XYZ.  OMG.  What a teaser ?  How can I take it anymore. What is happening to the messenger. How this question can open up to so much interpretation.  Ow, please be more clear in our message. That is why so many people died from heart attack for no reasons.

Ow. enough for today ..... so scary ...Namaste.

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Mad traffic in Penang

This morning I was caught in a massive jam on the way to work.  I was caught by surprise as such jams are normally in raining days but today , it was a dry morning. What happen ?

I thought that there should be an ancident or some broken down vehicle which was blocking the roads but there was nothing but just haze. We were told that the haze could last one and a half month. Just because of haze, there were more traffic on the road.  Yes, haze is dangerous for health but the traffic is craze.

I notice that the drivers are behaving very abnormally, going into the wrong lane, changing lanes suddenly , squezzing into the quene and stopping instantly.  The jam have caused us to be upset as we are rushing to work and also from these inconsistent drivers who behave like idoits and nincompoops. I wanted to use a four letter word to release my anger but I managed to divert my anger for peace.

I can expect more jams in the coming days as the haze will be around for some time. As more and more traffic flow into Penang as this week end is a long holiday with Merdeka day on next monday, I will leaving for KL for the weekend for some family matters. It will be a relief but again, I will smacked into Bersih4 on this weekend.  It is like jumping from a fire pan to another and I hope it will not be as mad as in Penang.

Recently, I heard a speech by our Penang CM LGE that Penang will be hooked by five access with the main land .There will two bridge, one underwater tunnel, one cable car and one LRT. This will be good for Penang as the access will improve mobility in the state. But, the flow of traffic in Penang Island will be more unless the LRT project can be done efficiently. This could reduce the traffic on the island if the traveling can be by public transport.

Yes, this is a mad , mad, mad world and hopefully, the Guan Yin ( LGE) can provide us with a good solution.  Cheers LGE

The falling Ringgit

Our Ringgit is falling sharply against the US$ and we cannot do much about it. Many people are caught by the inflation impact due to GST and now the weak Ringgit. 

For those having children overseas feel the immediate pinch as it cost more now to buy US$ and the UK pound or for that matter any other currencies. I was told by a friend that some Bangladeshis want to get out of Malaysia because  now their earnings have depleted and the remittance to overseas have shrunk.  How long and how long can it go.

Apart from this basic survival needs, it is now expensive to travel overseas and only people are coming to Malaysia to enjoy the cheaper rate. Why do we need to benefit foreigners ? What happen to Malaysians. Why can we travel freely and enjoy the world instead of only restricted to local travels. Our Tourism Minister is talking stupid thing telling us that more tourist will be coming to Malaysia and it will benefit Malaysian.

Yes, it supposed to bring business to local market but what about the inflation caused by GST and the spending of the Tourist , it also bites it back both ways.  The same friend also told me that the tourist only come to certain states in Malaysia and it have definitely benefitted Penang alot. But, the restaurants are half empty as foreigners moved out of Malaysia due to the uncertain political scenario  and the weakening economy of Malaysia and the falling crude oil pirce. Coupled with inflation due to GST , the livelihood of the local people is getting more and more difficult.

In Penang, there are a lot of traffic but the retail shops, malls, restuarant and cafe is half empty and this shows that people are not spending their money or not enough to spend .  The look is very pathetic and worrisome.

Lets hope for something better to come soon , otherwise, the people will have a hard time as living becomes more difficult.

namaste.

Sunday, August 23, 2015

The 7th moon

The 7th month 

I don't know whether it is the 7th month or the economy . I notice that the traffic on the roads in Penang is crowded with foreign cars but the malls  and restaurants was not crowded . Why is this contrast in the situation. If more cars in Penang , it will be naturally the business should be booming .

With weak Ringgit , more tourist should be coming to Malaysia,but the situation defies the logic . More visitors or cars means more spending but it was not. The visitors and the locals are cautious and cautious of their spendings. With GST impact and slowing Malaysian economy, the only way is to cut spending as the burden of moving gets tougher.

So it has nothing to do with hungry ghost month right? In the past , the local people are reluctant to go out at night during the 7th month where the spirits will be roaming around . There will be a lot of stage show to appraise the roaming spirits. But , the culture have gradually change and people is using this reason not to spend money too lavishly. This could be a good and valid reason.

Nevertheless, the ultimate result is a slower business activities whether is it due to the ghost , GST or weaker economy, the business multiplier effect is not there  where demand create supply and this activity have a snowballing impact to lift up the business sentiments 

It is really a bad time land a bad moon is rising .

Namaste..

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

My crooked body

As we grow old, our bone structure get shifted . From an upright man, we can become imbalance with our weight shifted more to the left or right or the front.  We may walk with a limp  or bow legged or with a hunchback.  The imbalance maybe not noticeble or obvious when we walk or stand.
But, nobody pay attention to these defects.

It maybe unnoticeble or slight but the imbalance could affect your alignment of our head, our nerves , our heart or our blood pressure.  But these defects may have long  effects on a person and if the weight keep shifting, it could also hurt the muscles on the legs and affect the walking ability.

Somebody have told me about my defects including one of my yoga teachers and I have been going for massage to ratify the defects but there is only limited improvements. Finally, I want to buy a shoe that could give a balance to my body structure but the sales person told me that I have to go for a test first to determine where is my weight concentrated on my sore. It is a first time, I stand on a machine which measure my weight spots on my sore. The reading told me that my weight have shifted more to my left feet and it is causing the muscles to be more stressed and it stands to give a slight pain when I am walking. What is the solution ?

Oh, I have to buy a tailor make shoe with a pad to put into my shoe and this pad will be fixed to the shoe to balance my body.  I have been wearing it for one week already and it seems to be working fine as I started to free good in my walking. Hopefully, this garget could ratify my balancing problems and make my life more stress free.

This techonology came from Taiwan and it is already in the market for many years. However, it is not cheap as this is a monopolized technology.  The pad have to be adjusted periodicaly as the weight starts to shift all over the sore and in time, it will need adjustment to provide a proper balance.

I will keep all my readers informed on my progress and if it really give me the balance and make me light and easy. 

Namaste.

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

I was just passing through

I was just passing through

We passed through our life journey gathering burdens,experiences ,heart arches ,enemies, friends and problems . From a naked person to a fully dressed person and finally to an over dressed person. Not only our body expand in size , our heart becomes heavier and our mind more entangled. What happen to us as our feets gets heavier and our mind gets more crowded.

Are we sleep walking through our life ? Just let time goes by while our body gets dragged down into the ground.

Holy shit!  So went we die, everything will leave us. There goes my everything. Why do we let all these things dragged through our life. Why don't we live free and easy . Let it go and fly like. Bird ? It is our choice isn't it ? Precisely, it is all our choice . It is a matter of want or don't want. As easy as that but we get hooked on it and we cannot let go. Yes, ourself . Greedy and egotistic.

Many people die also don't know the reason why they live or live the way it was. The path is the same for billions before us and after us and it could not be wrong .

Yes. It is other people 's life and not our life. Who cares how others live ?
We will go through our life only once and lets make a difference.

Namaste

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

To attack is a form of defence.

In our life, we have encountered many situation and we are often hurt by people and we have to defend ourself.  But in Sun Tze's "art of war".  Attack is a form of defence.  Nowadays, I have seen this tactic been used and another " techique" is to cause confusion and to create more and more confusion so that the main issue can be forgotten or played down.  There is a Sun Tze master at play.

Currently, there is an issue and some many people came in to talk about the issue and the purpose is to make it more confused and letting people start to imagine or deviate.  If the issue is pass from one person to another  and if you pass the same information through 10 person, it will end up with 10 interpretation and the last person will be interpreting it a 100 % different thing. So, to dilute the concentration , you add water and more water, until the orignal taste is change completely.

Another tool is to attack. It does not matter , the person is saying it correctly, we just attack the person in many aspects and make the person confused or look silly or uncreditable.  We can use bankrupts or desperados to come up and start to attack randomly and repeatedly like a mad man. This is another form of attack to dilute the truth.

There are many technique in Sun Tze's Art of war.  Sun Tze is a famous chinese general who leads his army to many victories.  One of his famous war wisdom is " to know yourself and your enemy , will win you battle many folds ".  The wisdom does not mean your appearance but to know your own and your enemy's weakness and strength , you will win every war against your enemy. There is also the use of "fear" factor in his war theory.  To make your enemy's weak, we create confusion and fear to weaken their resistance. So in the technique, a lot of drums , smoke and fire is use to conceal the strength of your own and magnify your strenght to your enemies and to create a fear in them,.

In politics, many of such tools have been used , to delay, confuse , create fear and disillusions and to attack in a surprise moment when the defence is down.  A combination of all these factors will win any wars.

Namaste.

It don't rain , it pours

Yes. It has been the case for the past few days.  It don't just rain , it pours.  The howling wind , the striking thunder bolts and roaring thunder. The dark black sky. It is all in a mess and creating so much havoc as strong wind sweep the land and building lifting roof and up rooting tress.  It is as if the world is going to end. But, the sun came back up.

In the morning, the roads were jam packed with vehicles as the rain keep falling.  Everyone was in a rush trying to move forward at the same time , swaying to avoid each other and have narrow misses in accident. Who cares ? The motor bike fellas think that the motorist will take care of them and the motorist does not care but just to move forward. 

I have to change my route as the roads in front of me was pack and it is not moving. I have to detour and  take a longer way to the highway leading to the bridge  in order to reach my office sooner. It is an irony , that is to travel longer distance to get to my office at a shorter time. Where is the logic ? Yes, it is because this is to avoid jam.

As I travel towards town, the traffic gets less and less  and when I reach the highway, it was a smooth flow. The bottle neck is at the smaller roads leading out of my township.

There is a saying " if we choose the same route and expects a different result , it is sheer madness ". In my case, I want to get to office faster and so , I change my route. This is a perfect example how I create a different result.  In life, we have make such decisions. Most of the times, the logic is correct but at times, it just backfired. Well, this is life and there is always some element of uncertainties.

I have read a book , it says that we have to change our routine frequently, so that our life will be different. Our routine is to wake up, brush our teeths, rinse our mouth, take bath , comb our hair and change our dress. If we change some routine, we will make it a brand new way or day. Instead of brushing our teeth, we take a bath first. But, old habits die hard., it is often very difficult to change our routine.  We are a routine animal.

Never mind, we will live by our instinct and enjoy every moment of it .

Namaste.

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Lies , lies and more lies

There are certain type of people who can lie to their bones and with their poker face and their eyes wide open. This is the most scary type of people who can do anything for their survival. This is possibly the rise of the devil or darkness as this people gain strength and use raw power for their survival. They can lie to their teeth and argue illogically or in whatever stupid ways to keep them alive and in power. Yes, this type of people survive but what is the outcome? In the end, there goes their legacy or their creditability and their names are recorded as bad people in the history books. A lie to cover a lie is like two wrongs don't make one right. In the end, people will see through their schemes and will reject them. There is a saying in chinese " Heaven have eyes" and the law of karme will work. In the past there are many instances of such cases of karma coming back to take its rightful course. Some people think that whatever bad things they do in this life , stays with this life. After death , nobody will know or why we need to care ? Yes, nobody will know but the people alive will know. If we think that is the end of you, then it is perfectly fine but the generations going forward , we can see the karma getting back at them. What you sow, that is what you will reap. You sow good seeds, you get strong plants and if you sow bad seeds, you get a rotten tree. Yes, for survival and like a drowning man, we grap at anything and if we have fellas in the same condition, you will hold on to everyone and get drown at the same time. One for all and all for one. Live as we live together , die and we die together. This is a cow herd mentality. I wish all these type of people a 10,000 years of fruitful life , so that they see the sins they have done and what is coming after them. Namaste.