Banks and Insurance

It is now harder to get a loan to buy a new house.

People are complaining how difficult it is to set up anything new with banks is.

Well, serve's them all right!

Several months back, I moaned about the vultures in the guise of banks and insurance agents, leeching off others. Every single deal had only one thing behind it - more money.

Money has grown to such importance that the greed of men ensured a swift downfall into what we now call a recession.

For all the singular dollars the banks have made over late payments or overdrafts or missed repayments, karma has had a strange way of working back against them.

As we speak, several banks face several billions (some trillions) of dollars wiped off their portfolio. Same goes for some of the insurance companies like AIG.

Maybe we'll all learn to be a bit more prudent now.

What of the Louis Vuitton's when you have kids at home to feed?

People Change

It's funny how we always have the best memories where they should be, in our minds.

Usually we remember people the way we want to remember them, but sometimes after some time, we find that that same person has changed.

I guess it's the same for myself.

I seem to be more tolerant towards certain issues that I would not have compromised in the past and opened up to enjoy life more.

The past is always a memory, but we still have a long way to go. I hope we can make it in the end.

Sic vis pacem, para bellum

JD commented that people have been comparing the current economic crisis to the Great Depression. The only thing missing is a World War to churn the economy by setting up weapon plants and giving people jobs in the manufacturing side.

Will Israel and Gaza be the new World War?

Sic vis pacem, para bellum

Foot in mouth

Ian Rush had a successful season at Juventus but returned to Anfield in 1988 claiming:

"I couldn't settle in Italy - it was like living in a foreign country."

Another examples of footballers putting their foot in their mouth.

Rich

Many people consider themselves rich in monetary terms.

From the recent credit crisis of 2008, many of these monetarily rich people may not have maintained their level of 'rich-ness'.

Of course there are others like myself who view rich = experience.

Be it bad or good, we continuously experience life. A friend recently asked what the meaning of life is and what our role in life is.

I used to think that I am the variable in a set of equations, e.g. X + 1 = Y, where Y and 1 will remain constant - thus being able to predict my 'future' or path in which I will be moving towards.

Years later I found out the hard way that I wasn't the only variable, but Y and 1 were also variables and I could not possibly predict what the future would be. Which also means that I can say for sure what our roles in life are.

So, what I could say was that we are all variables in life, so why be so fussed about our role? Why not just enjoy the ride and experience and become rich in this way?

Reflections of my life, the 08 edition

It's come to that point of time when the year is about to come to a close and I'm excited of getting off for a little boogie in Berlin (ok, so I just got back from Berlin...)

Looking back at 2008, I think the feng-shui master has failed quite miserably in some of his/her predictions.

It was meant to be a bad year for me - but thus far, I've come to conclusions that we make our own destiny. Feng-shuis masters reassure us what we already know, just like psychiatrist, only try to go one up by predicting the future. Take everything with a pinch of salt and take in consideration the magnitude in which we look at it all.

For example, who could have predicted the credit crunch? And how has the credit crunch affected me? The answers to these questions will only be known when the Chinese year has officially come to end (25th January 2008), so I better not curse it. Not just yet.

Taking the format of last years reflections, here they come:

The Good
- Making lots of new friends at work. It's given me a new perspective towards life in London
- Having lived with my landlord for almost two years, we've become more than the usual landlord and tenant.
- My marketing qualifications! Fingers crossed, by February next year I will get some good news about my results
- Cycling, it's the latest fad, the British Olympic Cycling team has led the way in promoting the 'sport' and the only irritating thing is that I have to share the road with some newbie’s; who are usually quite impatient
- Amsterdam is the new Paris. It feels more romantic in the autumn than France in spring.
- Cooking! Except for some normal injuries obtained while cooking, it's the best thing since I've discovered (or rather re-discovered) TVB serials
- TVB Serials... Love it or loathe it, they usually have ongoing family based themes, promoting different values and touching sensitive topics like divorce, single parents, etc. Most of the time, the stories have happy endings, but once in a while we get the solemn endings.


The Bad
- The Credit crunch. How can it not be? As defiant and indifferent as I can be towards this normal economical cycle, it affects the lives of those close to me and the world that revolves around me. The silver lining is that I am not in debt, so I am free from all the knee jerk reactions that banks have to all their debtors.
- The Pound. When I first returned to the UK, it was RM7.5 to a pound! Look at where it is now? This just means that for every £10,000 I convert, I have officially lost about RM20,000. Look at it in this light and it is very scary, as some people in Malaysia struggle to save RM20K just for their first down payment for a house or car...
- Leeds United. They just failed to get back into the Championship at the last hurdle. A long frustrating season follows as we fail to replicate the (almost) perfect start to the 2007/08 season.


The Ugly
- Eduardo.
Not him, but that ugly tackle by Martin Taylor back in February in Birmingham. I've always said the people over there were rough. Did anyone see it on TV? ewwww.
- Bombay.
Why do people find it necessary to terrorise others this way? Why can't we all live in peace? God bless the poor souls who lost their lives recently.
- Britney Spears.
I know a good friend of mine who loves Britney, but please... did anyone see some of her 'live' performances recently? It reminds me of Milli Vanilli back in the early 90s. Some say she has rebounded from her worst days, but once a Britney, always a Britney. Will someone please ask her to do the world a favour and retire?

Happy New Year everybody!

On having a foul mouth

1. Excessive swearing.

2. Smells like an ashtray.

3. Uncanny ability of words that instantly link to the future.

I believe that for a long time, I would be guilty of all three counts. Till I corrected #2 a couple of years ago.

However, its #3 which sometimes worries me. Thus far my ability has been highlighted for football matches - although once I actually gamble, I uncannily lose this uncanny ability; links to the sex of an unborn child, before the first trimester; links to economical futures and unfortunately deaths.

I remember writing about doing a review of the year 2007 and mentioning how I didn't think another Dark Knight movie was a good idea and how good Heath Ledger looked. Not long after he passed on.

Well, so much for having a foul mouth - who could have done it better? Why so serious? Let's put a smile on that face.

Merry Christmas everybody.