In 1881, a German guy named Otto, he came out with a radical idea during that era – why don’t we all stop working at some point, and just enjoy life (plus government funded pension)? The idea was crazy because back then people simply did not retire, they worked till they died. Hence in modern history, German government is the first to create retirement system. I’m not a crazy German and I don’t have the shocked-by-electricity hairstyle, but I do have a crazy idea too. Why do we only retire when we are old? Why can’t we retire now? Retire a few times throughout our lives? That’s what I did ..read more

Recently I had a discussion with a Singaporean comparing living cost in Malaysian and Singapore. I have always been grateful for being able to move to Singapore, because of this change in environment it changed my whole life. This is definitely one huge turning point for me, I was someone living in the “kampung” (village) to now residing in a place highly civilized. Any primary school here in Singapore has better facilities than most of the high schools in Malaysia, while I was so used to blackboard and chalks in the classroom, they use projectors and computers here. Back in 200 ..read more

I always have the idea of mini retirements, instead of retire at the age of 65, I want to have small breaks every few years and continue to work till old age. In that case, I could enjoy life while still having good health and no need to worry about missing out things in life. 2017 was my first mini retirement, a sabbatical year for me to explore and experience different things. Well, it turned out to be a year full of positive surprises! New social circle / network, career skills, business ventures.. I wouldn’t be able to explore and build up those things if I were still stayin ..read more

Throwing back to the days that I was still working in my previous company. As a big organization like that (over 45000 employees worldwide), we often had speaker sessions or townhall events where senior managers (directors) would share some updates or personal experiences with audience. I was in IT department, as you know even until now there are very few females in IT, even fewer for females who made it to director level. As for Singapore office, there were only two. I often joined those speaker sessions, sometimes just to get away from work, sometimes to find out more about th ..read more

Humans live in denial, it is a defense mechanism against the knowledge of our mortality; if not nobody would want to live. Please pardon my relatively morbid and dark topic, I always think that death is something we should talk more instead of avoiding it. My father used to have a factory in Ipoh, guess what we produced? Coffin. Yes what an odd product! My mum always told us to share with others that our business was about producing wood products / furniture should anyone ask about it. Not a favorite topic for many people I guess. I have seen enough coffins and funerals. In Ipoh there is ..read more

Rumor Research says that many people fear public speaking more than death. To me it’s a rumor, why? Dead people can’t tell us which one is scarier right? Okay I notice this line is a little offensive. Take it as a joke please. Warren Buffett mentioned before this is the most important skill, I agree in many ways. If we master public speaking: we can communicate our message better we are perceived as a stronger leader we can sell better (let’s face the reality that we are salesmen / girls every day) we can be more persuasive and inspire others to take action I went to so many events and ..read more

Disclaimer: This post is very subjective and controversial, please proceed with care because I’m totally unapologetic for any consequences   I read this article by chance – someone authored a book called “Assholes Survival Guide”. Wow I liked the book instantly even before reading! It’s not just me, see, someone else points out that there truly are assholes in this world. I had always wanted to be nice to others, hence never dared to admit that sometimes assholes do exist in my life. And then most of the times I was taken for granted. And then I was unhappy that I was taken for granted. W ..read more

Last month for the first time since I graduated, I visited my secondary school. I graduated from PGS in 2004. Many things had changed – two new halls with another one under construction, most of the teachers that I knew had retired, those who stay are with lots of grey hair now (well, it’s fortunate than having no hair). Yeah, it’s been a while. SMJK Perempuan Perak, aka Perak Girls School (PGS), is one of the most established secondary schools in Ipoh, it is home to countless talents and pillars of society. To me, PGS is a place full of my old school memories. I learned, grew ..read more

When I was back in my former secondary school and had a discussion with headmistress, I asked what’s the biggest challenge for teenagers these days. She straight away pointed out that the students (majority of them) are lack of direction in life. No goals, no objectives. I almost blurted out that, “Even adults a lot of them don’t have directions too”. Few months ago I met a Fengshui consultant, he volunteered to analyze my destiny by looking at my birth date. By the way, it was my first time doing anything like this! I have never talked to any fortune-teller / drawn divination sticks ..read more

A recent personality test shows that I’m a ENFJ person: a protagonist who is extrovert, intuitive (open-minded, curious), feeling (sensitive, emotionally expressive) and judging (decisive, organized). (By the way I highly recommend this personality test! It’s the best I had done in my whole life and it’s free!) Let’s talk about feeling. I knew I’m a highly sensitive person even without reading the results of this test. Most of the times I could sense the slightest change of emotions in the room, by just noticing small unnatural change of body language like eyes motions, ton ..read more