Victoria Sapientes Elegit the minimalist blog by syarif

Some people truly believe in religion - the God and other celestial being within, and the men/women of preach. They would hope for a divine bliss.

Some believe in God, but don't believe in the rest part of the religion. These people would hope for a miracle.

Some believe in God and everything inside a religion- but opt to worship devil. They would hope for a miracle also from their supreme being.

Some just believe in pure coincidences- with no celestial interventions whatsoever.

But all those people are hoping for something at the end of the day. Whether an eternal life in heaven, to become the army of darkness or just to have a beautiful life and peaceful death, whatever it is, all of them are 'hoping' for something.

Most of the time as a human, we cannot run from the fact that there are a piece of our lives (here or hereafter- depending on our believes) thet we want to make it better.

And more than ever, I am one of them. I'm not really sure which is the one I need, but either a divine bliss, a miracle or just a simple coincidence, I'm truly hoping that tomorrow would be a good, happy day. I'm hoping that tomorrow all my problems are settled and I can at least go to work with a lighter chest and a big fat smile.

Or, just make tomorrow disappear. The pressure is so tensed, I feel like puking and screaming at the same time.

Please, just one of those 'intervention' is what I need.

I humbly request for one...


Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device via Vodafone-Celcom Mobile.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device via Vodafone-Celcom Mobile.

I yelled again.
I hate my feelings now...

Sorry, but this sucks.


Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device via Vodafone-Celcom Mobile.

Death? Certainly.
Near? Maybe.
Willing? Unlikely.

Why is it such a sweet sorrow?



Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device via Vodafone-Celcom Mobile.

There are a lot of choices for any human being to pick when it comes to handling stress.

Some sing.

Some eat.

Some go around and yell at people.

Some throw things.

Some resolve to violence.

I used to pick the choices above.
Besides singing, I have vowed to stay away from those choices. It was one of my silent resolution.

But I admit that I have lost it, particularly the throwing and yelling part. Honestly I can't remember when was the last time I throw things out of stress and/or anger, but I'm pretty sure that I did in the past 12 months.

Yelling, somehow I can't help it. I lost it last February, on the least day, and to the least person that I wanted it to happen. I'm very sorry. I still have issues with myself and I'm struggling my arse off to solve it.

Just now, I almost do that again. Perhaps my voice did rise a bit, but thank god it was not actually "yelling".

But please, as much as I want to please everyone, I do want to make myself happy too. Sometimes not talking about things would be much better. I know I'm like the most difficult person to talk to. I know I'm the most stubborn people in 6000 miles radius. But, hey, give me a break. I can't afford a shrink to help me. I'm doing it solely with self-help pep talk.

Along the lines perhaps it may sound truly unfair, but I am changing myself. I want to change.
In order for me to avoid conflict (at least for now) I prefer just to stay utter silent. I would prefer just to mum the word.

Thanks.

P/s: I noticed that I may react better when I write or type. Perhaps that's the better way to talk to me when I'm stressed or when you think the topic that's gonna be brought up is stressful.

God bless everyone.


Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device via Vodafone-Celcom Mobile.

Theres an age old question in choosing one of those. Should a leader protect the nation's economy or improve the national education? Of course choosing both is the ultimate option. However, in reality, there are things that we need to sacrifice.
 
Imagine that you're in the position of power, where assuming that you can only choose ONE, which will it be?
 
I myself am struggling with the answer. Well, it's not that I'm running the country (yet), but I am in the position in providing about the same option to my own boss and/or my clients (and potential clients).
 
I'm a training manager. Education is the key to my work. And like many other company directors, keeping the company alive is the key task.
 
Now, back to the question.
 
Education is; for lack of better words; pain in the ass. Seriously, it takes time to plan, it takes time to execute and it takes really really really long for us to see the results. Take language for example, Malaysian students will learn Bahasa Malaysia (or Bahasa Melayu to a certain expert) for AT LEAST 10 years. Since Standard One where pupils learn the basics until Form Five where they learn the intermediate level. Those who opt for Kesusasteraan Bahasa Melayu in varsities will explore the advanced level. But with that, what is the result? Some of us can't differentiate between "degil" and "nakal", and some really thought that "motorsikal" is the correct spelling.
 
Some would say that language is something that changes all the time. We have seen the revolution of spellings (from "habes" to "habis") also the revolution of language rules; i.e. "Perdana Menteri" and "Arus Perdana" is using the same "Hukum DM" – BUT the "Perdana Menteri" is given an exception.
 
 However it's the same with almost every other subject in the world. We take Marketing for instance. From it was started, the concept of marketing is only 'location, location, location'. Then it began to evolve to 4P – product, price, place, promotion. Then more revolutions came in with to become 7P – and eventually, 11P and the latest one it has become 14P; where things like people, processes, packaging and 'purple cow' were added.
 
All that marks that everything in the world is evolving from the things we take for granted like language to something that we use to drive our business like marketing. Education or learning is a lifetime process.
 
Taking for that cue, it strengthens the fact that education is something that takes time to execute and more often than not, it's ages till we see the results.
 
But, education is not cheap. A simple public seminar on how to bake an orange sponge cake will cost you at least RM100. That's for ONE person, for ONE type of cookie – where you can find the recipes all over internet for free. Imagine that you want to learn something a bit complex. Like baking a triple layered moist chocolate cake a la soufflé (no, I'm not making it up) – the cost to learn can shoot up to RM 1,200 – 12 times from the basic sponge cake.
 
What I'm trying to say is that to learn something 'complex' or perhaps 'un-orthodox' or maybe 'new' can be really expensive. For a company to send 30 of their staff for a computer class can expect a 5-figure amount of expenses. And it may be not enough.
 
Thus, a company director will usually either:
1- take the cheapest bidder in the market (where in training industry would mean a free-lance computer geek who most probably not a certified trainer, who knows how to use PowerPoint but not in a way to "present to people" and copy all his notes from internet). This is just to show that he IS doing something for the company.
 
2- send 3 staff to go and assign them to teach the other 9 (which will translate to lack of enthusiasm, do for the sake of doing it, and most importantly incomplete transfer of knowledge). This is based on facts that usually a worker will only carry back 30% (max) of the things that have been presented during training.
 
3- just don't bother.
 
If you have noticed, each of the choices above will translate into 1 thing. Money. Which is pretty much related to the economic conditions of the company.
 
Tell me lads, if the company only have enough capability to sustain the staff and other overheads, where the hell are they going to fork out money to pay for training (or staff development)?
 
But we know that if somehow they do have the capability to improve staff, then there are greater chance the company would do better in the long run. But the subsequent question would be: When?
 
Now we can see how hard it is to make that decision is to be made. One cannot sacrifice the other without losing some. If they opt to do the learning, the economy might suffer, and vice versa.
 
Going back to the earlier context, if you're running the company, which one will you choose?
 
Personally, I would go for education. Not just to uphold my position now, but also that we're in deep economic turmoil – thank god it's not a breakdown yet. Since a lot of people are so goddamn stupid – not just academically but also in terms of common sense. Mass public education (or propaganda some might call it) as well as school education (perhaps to a certain extend I will hand-pick the teachers, and ultimately revamp the whole teaching profession). I will import teachers where necessary as theres no point a bunch of stupid buggers teaching the children.
 
Malaysian teachers ESPECIALLY the young ones, please be offended. I am reflecting much about you. Do not say anything to counter my thoughts, as if you do not notice until now, I'm that dude who did the RSE training. One thing I found after training almost 21,000 of you is that 20,000 always have excuses to TEACH LESS. An educator should not have that kind of thinking.
 
A bit sidetracked, I know. But heck. Ja!

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device via Vodafone-Celcom Mobile.

Particularly in the last 1-2 weeks, the term social media really hit the Malaysian public. It was highlighted grandly in the 2008 GE that the opposition managed to capture quite a number of seats in the house through viral marketing and social media campaigns, but somehow recently the wave grew bigger.

Starting with the remarks from our beloved Rais Yatim; advising Malaysians not to "get in too deep" with the information received from FB or Myspace, the online societies of Malaysian replied to that notion with a nefty hashtag of #yorais - stating how ancient he is. Then on Saturday Star Metro featured the hashtag #klrb stating that twitter users share information on the whereabouts of police road blocks all over Klang Valley.

I agree with most social media fans out there that it is the "new" news paper. More often than not I receive breaking news for just about anything much faster than the RM5 The Star Newspaper SMS service; by just updating my twitter timeline. And of course by constantly refreshing my FB "news feed" and "status updates" columns.

However, although #yorais is so ancient (as what the "tweeple" put him as); he has a good point in his speech a couple of weeks back. Not everything in social media is as concrete as in the news paper.

Social media, like most things available on the net, is created by a single and is virally spreaded through a medium of sharing (ie twitter, FB, myspace). And, like a lot of things online, we are prone to pranksters, liars and all kinds of human. Chances are whatever we see online is not 100% real. One good example is the case where somebody created rumours that Johnny Depp was dead - which was later found out totally untrue. Or perhaps the local case where this dude claimed to be indirectly involved with the church arson case recently- which was later found out that he was just pulling everyone's leg.

News paper in the other hand has a social responsibility to report the truth, as it is written and published (that's why you need a licence to operate a news and/or any kind of publications for that matter). But there are always loopholes to the system. The truth can be bended. Apart from that I have seen countless times that certain news were not reported or not fully reported to protect certain interest. For instance, there are cases in Sarawak where the Penan girls were raped by the workers of Bakun project- but were only reported in the newspaper of that state, but never reached to the readers in West Malaysia. Why? Words on the street is that it's to keep the "stronger voice" unaware of the situation so that it won't jeopardize the project.

So, which one should you pick?

Honestly if you ask me, I will prefer social media for the unfiltered, unbias and most importantly super fast information. However, I will (and I would strongly suggest everyone to) just counter check it with the good 'ol newspaper (online of course) toverify the truth.

In this world where everyone is trying to protect their own interest, it is rather hard to know which information is true. But at least if the underground and the main stream medias are saying the same thing, we can be sure that there are some truth in it.

Uff, I might have wrote it confusingly just now. What I'm trying to say is be like Hannah Montana, get the best of the both world. Reas social media news all you want, but keep the main stream media information, for just in case.

And I hope that the government would understand by now that social networking is the thing of the present, and most likely for years to come. Wake up, bulk up, step up and rise up, if they ever wish to hear the true heart of the rakyat.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device via Vodafone-Celcom Mobile.

I can't really tell where I got this as the money has been in my wallet for quite sometime.

But I realized it this morning and just wondering, is this a counterfeit money, or we have produced a low quality bank note?

Either way, I won't be able to use this anytime soon, unless I make the trip to a bank to change it.

Itupun kalau bukan duit palsu la...

Shoot!


Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device via Vodafone-Celcom Mobile.

I woke up this morning with not so high spirit; as I know I'm gonna get tired for the OBC. But it was lifted to a great extend just after the warm up session, as (as usual) we need to do grunts as penalty for the AWOLs. Somehow I managed to do 20 without the need for the 5 second break. Maybe it didn't sound much, but it was a great feat for me.

And the morning got better as I took a light breakfast, good coffee and arrived to work early. Cracked a lot of jokes the minute the clock turns 9, and seriously, I really felt like a million bucks.

But all that turned into despair when I heard the bloody news towards lunch time. Well, to save everyone's breath in this story, let's just say that it's involving money and budget from all sides.

I have tried for the past years to save on the expenses of ALL departments. Proposal after proposal after proposal have been submitted. All were accepted, but never executed.

But now when the finance screams that less expenses must be made in order for us to sustain in the next 5 years, all eyes were on me.

The worst part is, they were talking behind my back (as per what my informant told me), that I have done a terrible job in managing all that.

Hey! I'm just the messenger. I proposed, but things were never executed. What can I do? I'm just delivering the information la!

Well, I guess it's human nature. We've seen in all cultures and we've seen in a lot of movies (i.e 300, The Gladiator and even LOTR 3) that all messengers were killed.

And don't get me started on what are they saying about my life behind me. Yes, I'm not a good man. And not the best Muslim in the world, but hey, who do you look up for when you need something to be done? Bloody hell it's me! ME!

And I'm always glad to do it.

Haih... No point already. Things had happened. What can I do?

Perhaps just go with the flow.

Perhaps.



Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device via Vodafone-Celcom Mobile.

The first post of 09. And it's quarter of the year already.
Things have been soo packed since late last year.

Practically despite the travelling I need to embark in the next 3-4 months, I feel I could rather relax; away from the office; away from annoying phone calls; away from endless meetings. Although the e-mails and paperwork kept haunting me until this very moment of the day.

Well, 08 has been very intriguing.
Like what I have mentioned in my previous post, I hope things will turn out well.

It was here in Perlis where I sat down having a ciggie, when all these sights and sounds of the past came rushing in. With that notion, I went for some info hunt and, well, to the utter honesty, I was devastated with what that I had found.

Well, things never change I guess. When you have put you highs and lows, to work endlessly on changing a rock to a diamond, the aggravating remarks that you see (with some guys that you have put trust on fail to give you a heads up) can really spoil your mood.

Ahh... it was my fault perhaps. I should've been more careful in my choice of words, and in my choice of dissipating information. Now to kill a mockingbird seems like to shoot a snipe. The moon that I tried to nurture fell on earth.

But just like I mentioned, the serene view of the sea; with a touch of wet breeze calms me down. Surely, if I got to know about this in KL I'd be shouting and pulling long faces all day long. Thank God I found out at the comfort of Melaka Straits view.

Sigh. I still have that stupid uneasy feeling that I can't let it go.

Crap.

-=xxx=-

Last week I was in Kota Kinabalu. After the night training session, while entertaining a client of mine, a teacher (whom was on the way to go home as she lives nearby) asked me where am I going for the first week of training - and without hesitation I answered I'm going to Perlis.

Interestingly, she laughed and said "You need to get yourself some buffalos!"

"Why?" I asked

"Buffalos can bring you luck - thats what they have always say in my village"

"Why do I need the luck? And how the hell buffalos can bring me luck?"

"Well, buffalo helps alot in our daily routine - thus it is considered almost like a sacred animal. You need luck because you're not married!"

"Wtf? You mean you guys believe that un-married people are unlucky?"

"Hahahahaha!" She walked off while saying, "I'll lose my luck if I tell you now. I'll leave you with your current state of luck as it is"

That night I had a wee fight with Alice.
And I spilled Coke on my pants while sipping it.
Twice.

I tried to find the teacher the next day.
But she didn't come in.
Words from the street was her husband (whom a real-estate agent) managed to close a multi-million dollar deal and she went to help him on the paperworks.

Damn.

Perhaps it's time for me to get some buffalos?

Post script: Actually I'm not sure which one should I do. Either: 1- Stay away from Perlis, 2- Get married or 3- Get some buffalos.

Crap. Now I need to go for a joy-ride to Langkawi to calm myself down.

Yes, the last post that I have made in this bloody realm was about Vietnam.

Much had happened since then - in terms of family, friends, work, and love - the classic story of Syarif as much would say it.

Good family.
Nice friends.
Too much work (sometimes).
---- Not much to say about all of those ----

However, love in the other hand; is something not unusual, and yet, still unique. Haha, I know what you guys are thinking. The last time when I wrote about the "L" word in a blog - it was full with craps and what not. Not this time though. The confusion that the world had created made me more "cautious" on what I'm about to say (yes I DO believe that the world spins around me... hahaha!).

Neway, what I wanted to say are all in these lyrics. Just sing along while you're reading. Read thoroughly. And most importantly, the tune DOES NOT fully reflect what am I feeling. You need to read between the lines :D

Guys, no rumours please.
This is just another day where Syarif spent too much time in the office (with a working internet connection).

Lyric 1: Bole Chudiyan
Bole chudiyan, bole kangna
Haai main ho gayi teri saajna
Tere bin jiyo naiyo lag da main te margaiya

(Le jaa le jaa, dil le jaa le jaa
Le jaa le jaa, soniye le jaa le jaa) - 2

(Bole chudiyan, bole kangna
Haai main ho gayi teri saajna) - 2
Tere bin jiyo naiyo lag da main te margaiya
Le jaa le jaa, soniye le jaa le jaa
Dil le jaa le jaa, ho

Bole chudiyan, bole kangna
Haai main ho gaya tera saajna
Tere bin jiyo naiyo lag da main te marjaawa
Le jaa le jaa, soniye le jaa le jaa
Dil le jaa le jaa, ho

Haai haai main marjaawa marjaawa tere bin
Ab to meri raatein kat ti taare gin gin
Bas tujhko pukaara kare, meri bindiya ishaara kare

Hoye, lashkaara lashkaara teri bindiya ka lashkaara
Aise chamke jaise chamke chaand ke paas sitaara

Oh oh, oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh
Meri paayal bulaaye tujhe, jo roothe manaaye tujhe
O sajan ji, haan sajan ji
Kuch socho, kuch samjho meri baat ko

Bole chudiyan, bole kangna
Haai main ho gaya tera saajna
Tere bin jiyo naiyo lag da main te marjaawa
Le jaa le jaa, soniye le jaa le jaa
Dil le jaa le jaa, ho

Apni maang suhaagan ho, sang hameshaa saajan ho
Aake meri duniya mein vaapas na jaana
Sehra baandhke maahi tu mere ghar aana

Oye soni kitti soni aaj tu lagdi ve
Bas mere saath yeh jodi teri sajdi ve
Roop aisa suhaana tera, chaand bhi hai deewana tera

Jaa re jaa oh jhoothe teri galla hum na maane
Kyoon taarife karta hai tu humko sab kuch jaane

Ho, oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh, ho oh oh oh oh
Mere dil ki duaa yeh kahe, teri jodi salaamat rahe

O sajan ji, haan sajan ji
Yunhi beete saara jeevan saath mein

Bole chudiyan, bole kangna
Haai main ho gaya tera saajna

Tere bin jiyo naiyo lag da main te margaiya
Le jaa le jaa, soniye le jaa le jaa
Dil le jaa le jaa, ho

Le jaa le jaa, soniye le jaa le jaa
Dil le jaa le jaa, ho

Aaja heeriye

Oh, jaa jaa ranjhna

Oh, aaja heeriye

Jaa jaa ranjhna

(Le jaa le jaa, dil le jaa le jaa
Le jaa le jaa, soniye le jaa le jaa) - 2

Aa aa aa aa aa aa, kabhi khushi kabhi gham
Na judaa honge hum, kabhi khushi kabhi gham

Lyric 2: Hot
You're so good to me Baby Baby
I want to lock you up in my closet, where no one's around
I want to put your hand in my pocket, because you're allowed
I want to drive you into the corner, and kiss you without a sound
I want to stay this way forever, I'll say it loud

Now you're in and you can't get out

You make me so hot
Make me wanna drop
You're so ridiculous
I can barely stop
I can hardly breathe
You make me wanna scream
You're so fabulous

You're so good to me Baby Baby
You're so good to me Baby Baby

I can make you feel all better, just take it in
And I can show you all the places, you've never been
And I can make you say everything, that you never said
And I will let you do anything, again and again

Now you're in and you can't get out

You make me so hot
Make me wanna drop
You're so ridiculous
I can barely stop
I can hardly breathe
You make me wanna scream
You're so fabulous

You're so good to me Baby Baby
You're so good to me Baby Baby

Kiss me gently
Always I know
Hold me love me
Don't ever go

You make me so hot
Make me wanna drop
You're so ridiculous
I can barely stop
I can hardly breathe
You make me wanna scream
You're so fabulous
You're so good to me
You make me so hot
Make me wanna drop
You're so ridiculous
I can barely stop
I can hardly breathe
You make me wanna scream
You're so fabulous

You're so good to me Baby Baby
You're so good to me Baby Baby
You're so good

Lyric 3: Diari Seorang Lelaki
Dari semalam ku tunggu
Fikir kau pulang ke pangkuanku
Ku dengarkan lagu cinta
Pilihan terbaik kita
Ku mainkan CD berulang
Lupakan segala ucapan
Perpisahan yang kau pinta

Benar dikau ku cinta setiap detik ku puja
Kau sering perhatiku sambil belai rambutmu
Tak ingin aku lupa kenangan yang tercipta
Belikan aku diari ku tulis setiap hari

Terjaga dari tidurku terima panggilan dari jauh
Katakan saja kau rindu setahun ku hilang arah
Ku tempahkan tiket sehala malam ini kitakan bertemu
Tunggu di bawah lampu

Benar dikau ku cinta setiap detik ku puja
Kau sering perhatiku sambil belai rambutmu
Tak ingin aku lupa kenangan yang tercipta
Belikan aku diari ku tulis setiap hari

Bercinta, berkasih bagai Adam dan Hawa
Bergaduh, selisih buat kita sempurna
Janganlah dipendam luahkan perasaan
Tiada benci, iri hati itulah destinasi

Benar dikau ku cinta setiap detik ku puja
Kau sering perhatiku sambil belai rambutmu
Tak ingin aku lupa kenangan yang tercipta
Belikan aku diari ku tulis setiap hari


Yep, thats it boys and girls!
Hope you had a few good tunes coming out just now!

Life is a risk.
That explains our financial market.
That explains our workforce.
That explains our daily planning.
That explains our travel itinerary.
That explains our balanced diet.
That explains our routine exercise.

Life is a risk.
Grasp it with death hands.