Truly Saved the Best for Last

On Family..

Family rocks. Friends rock after.

If a picture speaks a thousand words, here's 5000 words.

Here's a breakdown of my family structure..

4 boys + 1 girl = My mom, my dad, and my three younger brothers.
I usually have random cousins staying with me at my house.
The neighbours  usually come in the evening for some PES.
Oh! and I have a cat.

Yes, it gets hectic most of the time. But I love them all. We don't spend too much time together like we used to but we do have those unique and exclusive family time like during family vacations. We don't bond that much but when we do, it's well worth it.

On Friends..

I really don't have best friends just lots of close friends. I do a lot of things with a lot of people really.

We usually generally just chill out, eat, talk, go to the movies if each person can afford it, maybe futsal with the guys, shopping, or taking a breather at the beach. We just like being with each other because... well, what are friends for right?

On Meeting People..

When it comes to new friends, I describe myself according to situation. Call me a hypocrite but I'd like my first impression to be good. I'm not saying I like to lie the first time I meet people or sugarcoat everything I say, I just organize truths according to as the situation requires. In time they would get to know me eventually and have their own idea of what I am.

I try to not stand out from everyone and it always fails. Miserably. My stumble rate is quite high. Either I laugh too loud, be too quite, too mild, too crazy, I get along, I feel estranged, I'm just inconsistent, they say. You just have to meet me to figure it out :)

Of course my religion dictates who I can be friends with. My religion says that everyone is put on Earth to know each other and be in peace. So I like to get to know people and have happy relationships with everyone.

So that's my friends and families. Thanks for the oppurtunity RealVoices 2! :D 

 Oh, lastly! Najjua, sayang awak :)

sorry gambar takdak~ xD

1ForTheAges

What do you think of 1Malaysia? Please explain your answer (likes, dislikes, emotions etc) in details. What is your vision of Malaysia in the next 5 years?

1Malaysia is an awesome concept. It really went from a political scope to a more people-oriented phenomenon. I like a lot of the programs stemmed from this concept such as the 1Malaysia Clinic. The effort of national unity must be progressive and I think the birth of 1Malaysia does help in that. Only this time, more entities are involved. Large corporations, Non-governmental bodies, and the rakyat themselves all have been embracing this concept and making it work.

So what if we had so many other vision from the government like 1Malaysia. did they fail? are they really that bad?

What do you think about the various races in this country? Do you think about your race or country first? Why? Do you think there is a tension between the various races in this country or not?

I think the various races of the countries really adds colour to the dynamics of the country. We're sitting here on this boiling pot of culture and ideas, which is a good thing. What sometimes can be a hassle is to please everyone. Everyone wants to be pleased.

Honestly, when I think about Malaysia, I think of the races first. Why? simply because all the multiraces makes the country what it is.

As for tension... Maybe, perhaps? All that is different must have friction between them, just like two cloths of different material. But that doesn't mean we cannot have strong bond between all that is different. Good news is, I think the degree of tension is not big enough to cause trouble but I don't know, I live in Sabah, I'm too far away to make a general statement about Malaysia. But here we do have 32 ethnics here and I think whatever policy the government wants to implement that is race related, do come here. We're doing fine in that department.

How do you think people from all over the world see Malaysia? Do you think there is a typical “Malaysian” stereotype? How would you want people to view “Malaysians” in the future?

I think for people who really think and realise how this country was brought up, They'd label us the ultimate underdog. I know I would. Coz we play in the big leagues and yet we're so small... Nobody's rooting for us. Tht's why we gotta root for ourselves people! nobody else is gonna do it.

 For stereotypes.. Malaysians re polite when they're not on the road. That's all I can say ;)

I hope that one day people from around the world won't just push us around and tell us what to do and take advantge of us. I want the citizens of the world to view us as progressive and formidable. I'm glad Tun Dr. Mahathir  stepped up and entered the Malaysia political scene as he had made an impact on that.

And lastly if I could quote a good friend of mine...

"Weih support lah!!"

Branding it up!

Know what?

Brands actually defines us more than we know.

If I could relate to myself, here are a few examples.

• I used to be known as the guy Livita Guy because on every outing, I always buy a can of Livita Honey
• My house never had any other brand of TV other than Sony since we really bought a TV for entertainment
• My mum never buys any yogurt drink other than Nestle Bliss
• Since my last one, I never bought sports shoe other than Nike, though I don't buy them often

Now is branded products important to me? I'd have to say not really. I can be happy being brandless but I do a lot of people who begs to differ. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. I mean, if you (or your parents) worked hard for the money, then you deserve to have things you want and like, right?

Lets get into details. I want to share with you my favourite brands as of now (in order):

 Why? It's a brand that makes me proud to call myself a Malaysian. It's international and the cars are good enough to enter big-stage rallies. My dream is to see a Rroton model on the Need For Speed Franchaise. hehe. Proton cars looks cool when modded! Check it out.

Moving on...

 Why? Do you even have to ask? I think KFC is more than just fast food. actually this is my first fast food according to my parents. I just love the crunchy spicy fried chicken with all the side dish. Nothing like it. KFC just keeps coming up with new food in their menus. Though most are just temporary promos, they really take advantage of that.

 Why? They just make the best phones ever, haven't you heard? Nokia phones are unbelievably user-friendly but stilll leaves room for application developers to make the phone better. Free updates and bundled softwares, life's just better with Nokia. (Yes, I know that sounds like an ad or promo but I love Nokia so much. hahaha)

Note: I'd put astro in this list if it wasn't for the price and lack of flexibility of choosing channels.

Most awesome and creative advertisements are not screened in Malaysia for some reason. We do have some good ones, but that's just it. we have some. Maybe the lack of competiton? hmm. Here's one I don't get tired of, it's from Petronas. Below it is an example of a commercial that makes the brand get stuck in my mind because it's just way unconventionally funny.

The Petronas commercial is just done superbly. Really makes you ponder the things you take for granted in life, and it doesn't bombard the ad with the brand.
I like the Pepsi commercial because it effectively relates the whole brand with the commercial in a very subtle and very funny manner.

Hmm... I guess they are brands Id be less than comfortable being associated with.. Crocs for example. I don't care how comfortable they are. It's just ugly, sorry. oh! and facial cleansers that doesn't work. urgh. They're a pain.

Religion does affect my consumer choices, no doubt. But before anything, I'd like to to be informed. I don't drink beer or eat pork or use any of the products related to what my religion prohibits, no matter how good the ads are. I try to stay away from things that are  unconsented-by-religion (or related to it), like Liverpool. Reason? Faith.

Information about stuff like this I just pull out from many different sources. Different medias target different groups so I just try my luck. But they are some specific ones. New information on technology, I get it from Monday New Straits Times, for specific products like new shoes, it's usually the Internet. TV is just useful for random information on things you really don't need. Most of them just try to persuade you that you do need them.

On a special note, one product that stands up for something noble is much to be admired. One notable example and still in familiarity to me today is The (Red) campaign by Motorola. It was set up by Bono of U2 to help raise awareness and money for the Aids crisis in Africa.

It's nice to see a company is willing to revamp its product to conform and promote a good cause, instead of the other way around. What's a plus is that it's doing it worldwide. I've seen big posters and billboards of the Motorola products in Malaysia. The Razr in red looks totally awesome. In the bigger picture, it actually raised awareness for Aids in my own country, how harmful this problem can be. You could say I'm Inspi(red) to make a change.

Sharing My Favs

I think I exposed this on my previous post. I mostly go out now with just boardshorts and some simple t-shirt with some witty design or sayings. One, because I live in a tropical country. It's too hot sometimes in long pants. Two, I live in Sabah. So that means if I can go to the beach whenever (which I do a lot) so wearing shorts help.

Actual beach shot by me in Kota Kinbalu, Pantai Tanjung Aru.

Heck Thinking of the beach makes me wanna wear boardshorts now! haha.

I prefer those graphic-bombarded boardshorts. I have two of them, Volcom and Quiksilver. Currently saving for another one.

If only they were as cheap as regular pants. I sometimes wear them for five days straight!

My two favourite shirts are brand-less. One says "People who think they know everything annoy us who do" and "Keep the dream alive" where there's a picture of somebody's hand pressing the snooze button on an alarm. I like t-shirts that are either too direct or too vague, like those only a few people would understand. Currently looking for this particular t-shirt..

From clothes, lets move on to gadgets. I for one treat my gadgets almost like children. Inanimate children at least. I name them, personalize them and I lose my way when I misplace or lost any of them.

First and foremost, I'd like you all to meet Sephia, my laptop. It's by right a HP Pavilion Tx2500. I got it for my 17th birthday.

It's a touch screen so it helps me with designing and writing down notes in class. The speakers are superb! The screen is not that big enough for a movie but that's what projectors are for.. here's the story of my (failed) attempt to sell Sephia in my blog: No Goodbye For Sephia

My Nokia e72, I wouldn't let it go for anything. It's my lifesaver. I do a lot of stuff with it, and I mean a lot. Listening to music, organising my tasks, taking pictures, surfing the web, finish up my assignments, check e-mails, blogging. it's a wondergadget. I can't lose it!! seriously. If I do, I'll forget everyone's birthday, lose all my pictures, life would be totally boring and all kinds of chaos will emerge!

Now enough about me and my paranoia. Lets move on to more important things.

The 2010 Must List!

Must See

Toys Story 3! in 3D! For everyone who watched the first two Toy Story, you do not want to miss this. This is not about the special effects or music scores. though they are superb, it's about all the good times and the laughs we had with the characters and storyline and reliving it. It's a nice thing to go back in time and remember how happy we were back then. The world needs to be happier.

Must Do

What else? Youth'10!! Must must go. Concerts, bazaar, workshops, conferences... Give me reason not to go! see you guys there! Oh yes, The FIFA World Cup. Gotta watch that too.

Must Have

An Acer K10 Pico Projector. When you see this thing, you will not believe it's a projector. HDMI support and everything. It's really small! Why a projector? you never needed one before right? well this time it's mobile. you can bring this anywhere. Plug it in your laptop and get a wall. Play games, watch a movie, do a presentation.. or better yet, get a TV tuner. watch TV in a ridiculously big screen. You can even plug in other things to this nifty gadget.

Now the three things I've herd so far that's worth updating my Facebook status for are these: Chris Rock, The recommendations to raise the oil price, and of course the World Cup! these status updates speaks for themselves :)

Click it!

Socially Qay

All around me, all forms of communication mediums are still in active use. Some of my friends still use landlines and dial-up connection even. But among my friends they are a few most used channels of communications include Facebook, instant messengers, and the ever popular SMS.

here are the some of the pros and cons of all those three forms of communications:

Facebook is simple, easy to use, and you have freedom with all the applications and security. You can allow and disable many programs without much hassle. It's a networking site that runs itself. You don't have to do much to update everyone in your friends list. The only problem I see is that it sometimes can be too public when you're unaware that what you sent will be echoed throughout everyone's newsfeed. Thank god for that little padlock button, just remember to press it.

Now, the main point for instant messengers is that they're instant communication. Type, press enter, and viola. Communication is established. It's an alternative to texting if you don't mind staring at the monitor. It's good for everyday communication coz it's an effective text transporter. For other media... Hmm. You have to have a stable connection. Once it's gone or go haywire, then you gotta start all over again.

SMSes are fun and addictive. Hey I'm even texting right now as we speak. The best thing about texting is that it's mobile and nowadays way cheap. You can keep in touch with anyone anywhere. It's not something you use to communicate with a lot of people, and sometimes its hard to tell emotions in SMSes but with the right fingers, texting is the way to go.

Facebook is way too integrated in my life up to a point where I can't compare my life with it and my life before it. But if I had to pick, I think it's more of an improvement. I hang out more with people now and I'm constantly updated with information about my family because the communication facebook provides.

I think popularity of networking sites really depends on the local condition. For instance, MySpace is not that popular in Sabah so I only had an account when I started studying in Shah Alam. But my interest slowly faded away when everyone started to shift to Facebook. the last time I logged in MySpace was a month ago.

So now my active accounts are Facebook, Blogspot, and Formspring.

Facebook is a complete networking tool. I do as much as play games up until confirming my attendance to my cousin's birthday party. I have a blogspot because that's where most of my long-winded expression of the world goes, and formspring makes me feel wanted. I get a jolt of happiness each time I recieve a question there. No matter how ridiculous they are.

I used to have 666 friends in my Facebook purposely. Why? Coz it's cool. When I approved one friend, I deleted another. Haha. That was quite dumb. It went on for a month or two. Then I got tired of deleting so now I have around 678 friends. Hey a good running number!

if I had to put a rough estimation, I'd say 10% are my close friends and overall I've met 80% of them at least once. But I get to know 100% of them. No strangers in my friends list. Around 40% I keep in touch regularly.

I have a few odd people in my friends list. Among them are my 56-year-old tuition teacher, my mum's aunt, my outward bound instructor, and a guy who claims to know me since we were in diapers. Hmm.

For the first time, I'd like to meet people face-to-face. I believe social sites are good for strengthening relationship as well as establishing them. The only reason for this is because I'm insecure. I like to read body languages to know if people really like me. If not I'll get paranoid throughout the friendship.

As for Twitter, yes I do have an account but I only log in when I have some things that are too good that you HAVE to share it. If not, I won't be bothered to log in. I follow a few wrestlers and a few artists like Tom Delonge and Will Ferrell, but mostly my friends are in my following list. People don't wanna follow me!!

My sad, sad Twitter life.

EntertainMEnt

TV has a lot of influence in my life. From teaching me English to motivating me to take up law. I remember my first favourite TV show, it's Mind Your Language. It's about a bunch of people from totally different ethnic and cultural backgrounds gathering up in a class to learn English, every class was total chaos.

That's the first, if we're talking all time favourite, I have three. Boston Legal, The Simpsons, and Fairly Oddparents. In that order. Those shows helped me through tough times. Of course, I watch most of them via television but now I try to wth them in Hulu and short clips in Youtube. Here are a few clips that speaks for themselves.

 

Boston Legal won James Spader numerous Emmy Awards. Not hard to see why.

What's great about The Simpsons is all those dark undertones about religion, politics, corporations, etc that flows along with the comedy.

The Fairly Oddparents always makes me laugh with it's over-the-top comedy that's heartfelt at the same time.

Fashion and trends... I like em, sure. But I think my mother knows more about that than I do. I don't keep myself updated with trends or anything of the sort. I go out mostly with shorts and flip flops. The most important thing is smelling good. I'd save for perfume, but not shoes or shirts or anything else. My mom likes to watch things on design and fashion so when she has control of the remote, then I have no choice but to watch and get some exposure to the fashion world. That, and because I watch Ugly Betty.

Most of my entertainment news I get from leeching in girls conversation and browsing through magazines in shops or at a friend's house.Very resourceful of myself.

I don't really have a favourite band. I'm universal, I just listen to any good music I can find. From Snoop Dogg to Taking Back Sunday. I have full albums of Fall Out Boy in my phone. My uncle bought them and I just converted them to MP3 using my iTunes. I used to have an Ipod but I had to sell it because I was starving that other day. You'd be surprised how fast those things sell. For other music, I tend to download or get it from friends.

Just some of the people in my playlist...

Some songs you really need to 'layan'

Taking Back Sunday - Sink Into Me

Snoop Dogg - the Next Episode

Josh Groban - To Where You Are

I generally like books, but not novel. No personal grudges here. I just have an immensely short attention span. Today chapter one, tomorrow forgets chapter one. Nevertheless, I do enjoy reading non-fiction books. Here are the three last books I've read..

Secrets and Lies, The Malay Dilemma, Business for Beginners

I'm fascinated by secrets and lies we generally led to believe. I'm just reading The Malay Dilemma to figure out what is so bad about the book until it got banned and the author suspended from a political party. Also, I wanna learn some theories about business before I swim with the sharks (again)

I tried reading The Picture of Dorian Gry, it's superbly fascinating! But too bad for my ttention span. I'm on page 60 now. Should be able to finish it by September. If only I could find the book..

My Life, On the Line.

My Online Life. Facts and Figures. And Some Explanation. Okay Maybe 'some' is an understatement.

Hours spent online: an average of 3 hours a day perhaps, if you count going online with my phone and other people's computers.

My online time is never consistent. Sometimes I can go a whole week without going online (rare) and often times I can just leave the laptop connected to the Internet for several days. It depends really on reality. If I have a lot of other obligations then online would be something I'd do after all that is done, but it's usually balanced.

Top three sites (study mode off): Facebook, formspring, collegehumor.

Top three sites (study mode on): Wikipedia, google, wolfram-alpha.

Top friend met online: Nur Syazana.

She commented on my picture back in those friendster days. A comment turned into a talk, then we exchanged blog links. I was fascinated by her interests and mannerism, so we kept in touch. we actually eventually met during  mock trial competition at my school. I visit her house for Hari Raya since the year that we met until the recent one. We're good friends now, I just met her last week!

Parents monitoring level: strict when I was younger, moderate when growing up, currently passive.

My mum actually took the steering wheel of going online when I was in primary school, showing me what to do,  and how to do those things. I had minimal control that time. Then when my mum was confident enough that I could steer my way on the net, she slowly let go but I was still under supervision. In the end she trusted me enough to let me go on the net without supervision. Parents should play a role in Internet awareness.

Parents tolerance level: "You're doing not bad at school, you must be doing something right online. Carry on."

My parents don't mind me being online as often as I am, they terminated the Internet once because my brothers' grades were slipping but when my grades slipped during that time of Internet starvation, they reconnected it.

Level of connection with the real world: Quite high.

I use my social sites as a way to solidify my real-life relationships and not the other way around. I know most people in my facebook. I enjoy meeting people in real life rather than online, if people insist in getting to know me online, I insist on meeting them and have a decent conversation face-to-face :) only then do I decide whether or not to trust someone. I have urges to read body language. I get insecure if I don't.

The Measure of Success

Presenting...

Qayyum: A Success Story

Okay, not so much.

Let me lay it down to you straight. I'm nobody special. At best I'm what you may say a jack of all trades. I do a lot of things, I'm just not great at anything. So to be honest I just have small but collective short achievements that when you pile all of them up, you get a considerable chunk of success, but that's about it I suppose.

Here's my success story.

I grew up normal. some things I get, some things denied.

I once represented my state for bowling, I was the emcee for a couple of events at high school, won a few talent competitions, got an article published in a magazine, rejected a full scholarship to study at a local private university, got an 'excellence in service' certificate from my high school, 2nd place in the state-level drama competition.

Okay done. Moving on.

I think a successful person is someone who do both what he can, and what he must. Now that is true success.  It's never measured with how much you have, how loud people praise you, or even what title you carry.. Sometimes the noblest thing are the most subtle ones. I admire people who keep their head strong when disaster is screaming in their faces, or someone who nurtures potential in other people, like a teacher who gives cheap tuition classes for students who he thinks needs that little extra push.

It's what they give, not what they get.

Not to sound too cliche or sucking up to anybody but there is one person in this world who I truly regard as my role model, and that person is my father.

Sure it's a bias selection but even if you look as an outsider, my dad has much to be admired. He a classic success story.

growing up my dad had to work at a coffee shop for 20 cents per hour, help my grandfather at the fruit orchard, and taking care of his younger siblings. He didn't live in the city, so he had no big dreams, the biggest one he had was wanting to become a traffic police.

One great thing is that he truly worked his way up. Never took a day for granted. He settled for mediocrity in his high school because he didn't see the point of it all back then, afterwards he came to the city. he worked hard and landed a job at a local telecommunications company. He starts off really small, not having a degree and all. But because he was so persistent and hardworking, he was quickly recognised. He was one of the few Sabahans to be picked to join a 1 year course in the USA to learn about telecommunications at all expense paid. It's like a scholarship, only for working people.

Now, he's one happy man settling with a family that loves him and acquaintances that looks up to him. He still can't go too far in his career without a degree but he's content with it. He has strong values such as never accepting bribes, loving people that loves him, and still working as hard as ever. I think when you have strong values and sticking to it, not much can stand in your way of happiness.

As for me, I have bigger ambitions than being a traffic police officer. I actually want to join the political scene here in Malaysia. Maybe join the senate... That'll be nice. Why? Because I believe there's still a lot to be done here and you know what they say.. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. People should really stop having negative sentiments of politics. It's what rules the country and how we live. From the price of sugar to what car is allowed on our roads. All that is regulated by politics. If we keep having dirty people in politics, then so long progress. Ignoring a problem is not the same as fixing it.

Parliament, wait for me!!

I have nothing planned for myself except for getting into politics. So in a year, maybe no specific plans. I just go where the wind takes me. I'm that kinda person. Study, get good grades, have fun along the way, take on problems one at a time. In five years... maybe get my law degree? yes. that and make loads of friends, being nice to people. Just do all the right things coz who knows, I might die tomorrow..

Show Me The Money!

How important is money to me? I'd say quite important. I don't know, I think each and every one of us has grown accustomed to live with money. We literally can't imagine living without money, unless we imagine everyone is dead broke too.

I've seen people who couldn't care less whether they have money or not, they live a simple life. You go to the farm when you want to eat. A drink is always available at the well. You want fish? go fish. I've never been to the remote parts of Africa, all of this is happening right here in the interiors of Sabah, Malaysia.

Should we help them? why? They're living a happy life. Who are we to judge and say they're backwards just because they don't have our progress and problems?

Thats how colonization starts.

I'm not going to lie. Money is essential to me because all around me everything requires money. I can't name you one thing that doesn't require money. But I try to be content, I spend according to what my wallet allows. I don't have to tell you that they are people who spend way above what they can afford. They have their reasons. Too used to luxury, want to impress friends, or they just think they can.

I've had a few part-time odd jobs, the first official one I had was when I just finished SPM. I worked as a store boy for a branded sportswear company, or at least I thought I was. They just wanted me to clean up a store room because they're moving offices. They paid me RM50 for a two-day gig. Wasn't worth it, I cut my wrist in an accident with a poster. I never had any other jobs since.

work ethics is uber important. I go by the policy of you work as hard as you want to have fun. And I'm all about having fun, so that means I'm all about strong work ethics too, I guess?

Before, I found rather peculiar ways to make money. I used to do freelance T-Shirt designs (Yes, people pay me to design shirts), became a tuition teacher for little annoying kids, did other people's SPM kerja kursus for big bucks, set up a vigilante stall selling drinks at a talent competition, etc.

The vigilante team. We don't know the meaning of "You need special permission to set up a stall here!"

Strange, I never really needed the money but I love it when they flow in.

I'm rarely ever compelled to look for a job except when I'm really desperate, like the time I was stuck in KL because I missed my flight to go back home. Mainly because I'm perfectly happy with whatever I have. My parents should really stop giving me money.

Okay, no. I didn't mean that.

Here's the process if I want something really really bad.

1. Find a cheaper version of what I wanted to buy.
2. If found, find the cheapest cheaper version of what I wanted to buy.
3. Tell my parents I want something, I just give them a rough idea.
4. Slowly seep an idea into their minds that I actually want something specific and show them I need that something, not just simply wanting it. Process takes about  month or two.
5. After much negotiation, they give me the money for what I want, with certain clauses. When I wanted a phone, they asked me to score a 3.8. Yeah like that's gonna happen. By the time finals came, they forgotten all about the deal. Timing baby, timing.

I like my parent's reward-before-effort system.

I can't really comment on the recent economic climate really, my family seems to be unaffected. If anything, we got better financially as a family I dare say. The state I'm living in is booming with new development projects and aggressively promoting tourism. I guess my dad's side involvement in tourism helped to cushion the impact the economic downturn. Or maybe the increased spending is just their way to help with the economy? Did you know that not using money (i.e saving) does not help, money needs to be liquid and used people! it gets into the market and multiplies.

Since we're in the topic of liquid flow of money, here are my picks of...

the three coolest jobs and three reasons why they're cool!

Being a prince of a rich kingdom

- All you have to worry about is etiquette and when is your time to take the throne. Worrying about  important matters are in daddy's hand.

- Money is never a problem.

- You get to marry only the finest girls, unless you have weird taste. If that's the case, whatever makes you happy then.

A famous food critic

- You can eat all you want for free, and still be mean and grumpy when you write the review.

- You get to be friends with important food people, that equals to more food!

- The best seats in a restaurant is always reserved for you.

An author with unlimited ideas

- I actually chose this because this is what I wanted to be when I was in high school.

- Royalties, royalties, royalties.

- Flexible working hours. How good does anytime sounds?

And the three worst jobs ever and why they're horrible!

A hazardous material cleaner

- All the risks of radiation, with a cleaner's pay.

- The amount of co-workers you have is proportional to how many hazmat suits you (or your company) have.

- Irregular working hours. Not everyday does a hazardous chemical spillage occur.

A highly dedicated shoe salesperson

- the smell of feet all day. Need I say more?

- You rarely get to have a vision of going up. You gotta look down at feet all day.

- After being so nice to people's feet, they could always reject you. Oops, the shoe, I mean.

A Motivational Poster Producer/Writer

- Who buys them anyway? Most of us just look at them, be motivated and walk away.

- The world is overpopulated with creative one-liners. And thanks to the Internet, nobody knows what's original and what's not.

- On a bad day, a motivational poster is just annoying.

Every job is noble, as long as it's not against any law. Whether you're sweeping floors or cutting brains. That's why there's a lot of adjective to the list above. There's no one exact perfect or horrible job with just one simple word or description. All jobs and profession has their ups, downs, curves, turns, and whatever hurdle. we all go through it. The most important thing is not to lose our heads when we're forced to face them.

More important than the phrase "people gotta live" is that "people gotta live right."

Me, me, me, and me. Oh, YOUths are in this too!

Hello!

As a start, let's begin with knowing who I am. Full name, Abdul Qayyum Bin Jumadi, but people just call me whatever they want. Mostly Kai, some K, and only a few call me QJ, i.e my parents. I love to write, watch professional wrestling, watching movies, and you know all that teenager stuff. That said, I'm willing to try anything new.. provided I'm supported financially. I'm from the upper part of Borneo and enjoy every bit of the Land Below The Wind.

Do not be fooled! This is one of my better looking pictures in Facebook.

Speaking of which, I think there's no better time being a youth in Malaysia. Why? Malaysia is a relatively young country on its own, it's hardening and still being moulded.We as youths actually have the chance to spearhead the country. Whatever future we have, we can take charge of it and make whatever we want of it. Call me corny and patriotic but it's better to realise this now than later. Sure, every youth in every country needs to worry about the future. bright or dark, it's all up to us really. But the way we're going, I don't think we have much to worry. I'm rooting for optimism.

Whether or not we have a harder time growing up than our parents, I have to beg to differ. Sure, we may complain a lot with a lot of things today. The malls are too small, McDonald's is too far away, school starts too early.. My father had to walk through forests and mud being chased by wild boars and my mother had to take a ride behind a police truck to get to school every day. Of course we can't actually compare side-by-side but the spirit you got to have to endure day to day activities can't be much different then and now.

That reminds me what the playwright Chekov wrote, "Any idiot can handle a crisis. It's day-to-day living that wears you down."

For more of Anton Chekov, click here.

I try not to label youths are rebellious but rather, having tons of ideas inside of them without the proper channel. so when they do find that one medium to channel what's on their mind they tend to grab it aggressively.  It's unfortunate some of us just find the wrong medium at times. My last act of 'rebellion' was against my psychology lecturer. She believed that we all should work together in every aspect in a video role-playing we had to do, while I believed that only skilled people should be involved in certain tasks, other group members are only there to support. The argument was heated, both deeply irritated, and it took about an hour. One of my more sensitive  group members cried and asked, wait, no, demanded, I write to my lecturer an apology letter and I got an A- in the end. Thanks Adilah, could have been a lot worse.

This reminds me college. The most difficult hurdle I had to face so far in my life. mainly because I had to cross the ocean and be away from the people I love. two, I had to stay in a dorm which is something I never experienced. Of course there's much to say about challenges there like missing home and tons and tons of work but the lessons and friendships I forged on the long run was well worth it. I'm not afraid to venture into new territory any more.

My happy sensitivity is quite haywired. for me it's not what I'm doing, but it's more of how good I am doing it and who I'm doing it with. I can be perfectly happy watching paint dry if it's a contest or if I'm with my friends with a bag of chips and a few big bottles of carbonated drinks.. and a high definition TV with my favourite movie playing.

I think my friends and family have quite a balanced importance in my life. You can't really compare the two. They're in a different class of social groups. I just have two little brothers who are currently in high school, so we all have our own thing but from time to time we do spend time together. There are some things that are strictly for families.. Family days, weddings, family vacations. I do spend most of my time outside the house with friends. But while they are significant in my life, none will have the same impact my family has on me.

Who would have thought a midnight walk beside a dark highway would be fun? The right people + right activity = Happiness for Qay!

Well that's me, Qay, and my ramblings about myself and youths today. hope at least one of you got enriched with my..erm.. personality? until we meet again! take care.


p/s: any questions can be taken directly to my formspring, you will be entertained! :D

Qay's formspring: click here!


Oh, did I mention I'm also in charge of a short stories blog with my friends? Its under renovation but the stories are there for your enjoyment. Do visit :)


Awefully.Written