2012

Assalamualaikum wbh and a great day to all.

It's been 16 days through 2012. I wish everybody a happy new year (it's almost Chinese new year already!).  InsyaAllah I'll be going for my PhD studies this year, if there's no sudden changes in the plan. And if there's no other sudden changes in the plan I hope to get it done within 2 years, or 3 at its maximum. So hopefully by 2015 I'll be a doctorate citizen of Malaysia, five years into 2020. I pray for Allah's bless and guide in that.

The last few years had been very crucial in determining my self for now.
In fact these years were the determinant years of my life. I'm quite sure my journey is still very far from its destiny, if Allah still grants me more years to live, so I cannot say that these years would determine who I am in the future. But the life itself is a laboratory of teaching. We learn throughout our life. The more we age, the more we're suppose to learn.

Right now I had a few papers pending for writing and publication. I kept on failing to deliver these on time to my supervisor. Okay since I've done with my MSc he is suppose to be my research colleague, or the more precise role, my mentor. InsyaAllah he'll also be my PhD supervisor. I've realized how bad this negative feeling has been affecting me ever since. Now I know how feelings (emotions, thoughts etc) grant one his/her character. This is quite bad because I've been haunted with this negative feeling for the past few months. It is suppose to grant me this negative character in my mind. The kind of feeling that "you're not a responsible person", or that "you are a lazy student", or that "how could you do this to your superiors", all kinds of my intellectual-insult thoughts and provokes. These have certainly changed my character a bit for the past few months. I hope this is the worst it can get me to.

At least few things happened in the last few weeks to cheer me up from the negative thoughts. Two days into 2012 I've learnt how to swim, and even though it is just the breaststroke style, I now know how to swim correctly. Later I'll learn the freestyle and do itjust like Rain ;p The one week intensive class I've took in UiTM Shah Alam (for 10 hours) helped me to know more of myself. After gallons of swollen pool water I gained the skills for breaststroke swimming, and a little confidence to swim in the open water. The feeling of "yes, alhamdulillah, another new skill learnt!", is very good. This is cool. I've almost forgotten how it feels acquiring new things. It is very refreshing indeed. It is also through this session that I've realized how the negative thoughts had molded into my character lately. And the thoughts were very powerful that they have prevented me from performing my best in the learning sessions. The most important lesson after all that I've learnt is I need to turn deaf to these negative thoughts. Shut it down in my head, ignore it and let my old self be free for one more time: The positive me. I really need that for my next phase of my life. By the way, the first important lesson to swim is, don't get panic in the water. I learnt how to clear my mind and get really focused to get to the other side of the pool. That is great. The better part? We have Pusat Renang Akuatik in Batu Burok to swim in our free times.

Of course I did learn other things as well in the sessions. I met new people of all ages. I've come across a UUM alumni there. She was in the UUM first batch for tourism management. By the way I'm still looking as good as a form two student! If only I can have the better learning skills I can beat a standard six student! Okay, well, they (the form two and standard six students) beat me at the sessions. At least it's the stamina that prevent me from going further this time. You'll just admire how the physical and mental abilities of those younger than you allow them to learn new skills faster. And you'll just regret that because you cannot beat the time. If only you can turn into your younger age =). So I've decided to learn all the skills I sooo wanted to right away. This would be the black belt for my karate, foreign languages (especially Hangul and advanced German), and if possible one music instrument. I hope it is the violin, I think piano skills would be harder to acquire. At least if I cannot afford a piano I can still play a violin You may correct me if I'm wrong). The most challenging part is, I need to start by learning the music notes. This year I'll be 26 years old, insyaAllah. I need to catch up fast for my stamina and skills perfection for karate and swimming before it is too late. Did I mention golf just now? I think I'm not ready for the green course yet, but the driving range looks promising to me this year.

10 days into 2012, I've registered my business at the SSM in Jalan Sultan Omar, KT. It is called Perunding Lang. You can find it at www.lang.com.my. I have big dreams for Perunding Lang. I hope it can be a great management consulting company to join the country's big three: Bain, McKinsey and Boston. At least it should be one of the top local consulting firm in Malaysia (top 5 at least). But again I have to abide by timing rules in the business. The longer you are in the business, the better you'd be. You cannot simply beat the elders in the industry. It takes times. And a lot of it. You'll have to learn throughout the journey continuously. I had feelings for the business in its early days. Sometimes it is very aspiring. Sometimes it is very daunting. Soon I found a book on Abdul Rahman bin Auf, the God's Merchant. I learnt few things from the book. But the most appreciated one is you do business not only to sell products or services for some profits, but also to help the buyers getting things they need. At least that is why Lang would stay. I hope not only to advise others, but also to seek advise of those business people out there, and learnt a lot of things from them. After all, I am still a scholar and must become the best in the country. So for the time being, we'll start with the very basic lesson: Grow slowly, but persistently.

My apologies for the frantic, horrifying grammatical errors in the entry. I hope they won't affect the messages it brings within.

Cheers and wassalam,
IS.