Play 1

I'm writing my own play, eat this Shakespeare!

Why am I here?

"Um... to do what I want to do, I guess..."

Why do you want to do what you want to do?

"To feel good, to be happy... I guess..."

Why do you want to be happy?

"Oh that's easy, because it makes my existence so pleasurable. It feels good to be happy!"

So being happy is good, what else is there?

"Well the alternative is being sad, and that is horrible. I don't even want to think about that one..."

Being happy and being sad, what is in between then?

"Um... being bored I guess?"

Is being bored a nice feeling?

"I guess it is kinda neutral, but no I don't want to feel bored."

Neutral huh? Will feeling bored lead to being happy or being sad?

"Hah, that's obvious... feeling bored for too long will make you feel sad eventually."

So everyone here in this world is here to be happy?

"Yeah why not? Otherwise why be here in the first place?"

But is that a fact yet?

"Not really, happiness seems to be a rare commodity nowadays."

How did that come about?

"Um... I guess people forgot why they came here for in the first place."

How did that happen?

"I'm not really sure."

Ok how about this: At what age is a person most happy?

"Mostly as a child, yeah that has to be it."

Why is that so?

"Ignorance? Nah that can't be it... adults are pretty ignorant too. Um... lemme see, freedom, security, loving people, not being forced to do things."

Do those things change as people grow up?

"Freedom isn't free, you have to pay for security, people are nasty, and you have to do things you don't like... come to think of it, everything changes!"

No wonder people are unhappy, all the basics are inverted!

"Jeez I never saw it in that way... ouch!"

So... is there any way to be happy now? As an adult?

"I guess the only thing that can do that is money, right? You can buy freedom, security, and people are forced to be nicer to you, and you can do whatever you want... wow... sounds good."

So money equals happiness?

"Oh man, that's a tough one... that can't be, I know of rich people who are miserable as an old dog; well not all of them of course."

So then what else is missing from the equation of happiness?

"I gotta think about that... I'll get back to you when I do."

Business Lesson 1

Note: This article is a work-in-progress, will update more when i experience it first-hand in my business.

The 5 stages for successful cold-calling:
1) Greeting
2) Qualification
3) Follow-through
4) Objection handling
5) Closing

Italian-Japanese Fusion Dish

I couldn't recall the name despite the dish having made an impression on my tastebuds.

It was an interesting dish, I find it a little ingenious that raw salmon and spaghetti with Japanese sauce can work. The whole experience starts out like this:

The dish is served cold in a stoneware bowl...

The smell of the sauces first tingle your senses with a little bit of saltiness in the air...

The presentation of the dish brings to mind that there might be more underneath those golden swirls...

Upon mixing the contents, one finds roes the size of vitamin pills within!

The spaghetti provides the filling sensation that all asians grow up craving in meals (due to eating so much rice)...

The salmon comes in just the right portions to provide a blast of healthy flavor to all those salty carbs...

The greens compliments the other ingredients with some scrunchy-crunchy freshness, in between slurps!

All in all, this is a pretty healthy meal, it's low-fat, non-oily, contains Omega-3s in natural form, served raw, with a good balance of carbs, meat & greens. Plus it is actually quite filling too!

Oh yeah I had it in Pasta Zanmai, nice ambiance and very good service by cute Japanese-lookalike waitresses. :)

An Instant Vacation

Personally, I need a vacation almost everyday; especially if I was busy doing stuff all day. To me vacation means finding time to chill out through physical activity. Prior to joining a gym, I used to try working out at home. It didn't work out because of the following:

1) Limited equipment I can buy & put at home.
2) No 'beautiful people' around to (further) motivate my workout.
3) No 'workout' ambiance.
4) Tempted to do other 'entertaining but unhealhty' stuff like watch a movie sitting on a bag of chips.

So a few months ago I decided to make a commitment and join a serious gym. Now things are different. The gym offers a swimming pool with a view, palm trees included. I just need to visit the pool for 15 minutes to vacate my hectic mind, heck the place is so comfortable that I actually took naps on the pool bench many times while waiting for the sunset to put the icing on my daily cake.

When dusk is done and over, I head down to mingle among 'beautiful people' and workout on weights and resistance equipment, which are excellent in quality i must say. Now when I say 'beautiful people' I mean two things; firstly there are many people who are physically beautiful! This group of people know it and they flaunt it, if being beautiful is what you want to be obviously this is the right place to be. The other group of people are in no way physically beautiful. However, I still refer to them as 'beautiful' because they see the potential beauty in themselves, enough to make them work towards revealing it. After all, physical 'beauty' is just a matter of rearranging muscle and fat around the body, putting it at the right spots. That's why body-building is also termed as body-sculpting in some instances, because there is nothing more needed to be built, just needs rearranging!

The gym is a highly charged place, full of positive energy. I believe in the power of being positive and also how auras in people affect each other. In fact I don't think I can find a single negative person in the gym, basically everyone is kicking their butt to improve themselves. I remember always seeing this obese lady, and also a one-legged guy at the gym; they are frequently there, constantly working out. I gotta say they bring a lot of motivation for other people around them. So fat people, don't be shy to go to the gym, nobody's gonna laugh at you when you're a motivator.

The most intensely positive environment in the gym has gotta be the various classes. In here, you can actually get to speak to new people and have a decent conversation because trust and respect has been established while being 'classmates' for a while. Sadly, it is much more difficult to engage a Malaysian stranger in trustful conversation outside of the classes. The most decent conversation I had in the gym goes like this:

(Me occupying a specific resistance equipment, stranger walks up with a beaming smile)
Stranger: "Are you done?" "How many sets left?"
Me: "Oh, just one."
Stranger: "Oh, haha ok."
(Me pushing a final set through)
Me: "I'm done, cheers."
Stranger: *SMILES*

Oh yes, I was talking about gym classes. There are so many types here that I can't recall most of them. I remember there were yoga classes (hot and normal), combat classes, weights, capoiera, ballroom dancing, belly dancing, and an assortment more. Joining a particular class consistently will build rapport with your fellow classmates, and this makes it a great avenue to meet new (positive) people.

So yes I feel that every visit to the gym is like going to a ClubMed. Different environment, different people around doing positive and  relaxing stuff. A vacation indeed.

Save some bucks @ Starbucks?

I just rented an 'office space' in Starbucks, their deal was very good so I took it.

Here's the deal:

RM15 gets me the following:

1) 1-day access to a 5 square feet office space.

2) 1-day access to wireless.

3) 1-day access to 240v socket.

4) 1 table.

5) 3 to 4 chairs.

6) Free piped-in music.

7) Free air-conditioning.

8) 'Complimentary' cup of Grande ice-blended coffee.

All i bought to do my work was my laptop. What a deal huh?

Oh and the 'view' here is very nice too.