Gong Hei Fatt Choy in Melaka

Apology for the no-show for the past few days. I am still in Melaka and will only be back this coming Sunday. How's my Chinese New Year like back in my hometown and what I did...

1. Lots of junk food, drinks & loh sang...



2. My house is the only house in my taman that is not affected by the recession. I am not boasting, the neighborhood been pretty quiet this year. The pictures are the evidence :)







3. Drink, drink & drink. I am talking about alcoholic drinks here. Although the fridge are filled up with beers, stouts & wines, plus I have like 3 dozens of Hennessy, I rarely drink at home, we prefer to go somewhere happening like this new club, Arena. Or sometimes we drink at Sports Bar. After drinking then we would have lepak at the mamak till bout 4-5am.



4. Gamble - blackjack, chor tai dee, gin rummy, ngau. You name it, we have it. This year been pretty bad start for me though. I stopped at RM800 deficit this year. Eight lucky number mar.



5. Visiting. I got to admit I hate visiting, especially relatives houses. I am not close to all my relatives, be it my dad or my mom's side. Mostly are pretenders and meeting up normally will be like a battle of comparing their sons & daughters achievement. So I rather stay home and I know many of my relatives branded me as anti-social, I do not care and proudly accept those special title for me. The only person that I will visit is my grandparents. I had been close to them since my childhood time. Everytime, grandma will asked bout my girlfriend, where is my ex-gf now, etc. When grandma sees me, I can always see tears of joy in her face which touches me as well. Grandpa this year been weaker, I hope everything goes well. I really do...



Okie, quick & short post. Hope you guys do not mind.

Happy Chinese New Year. And to the Hokkiens, Happy Pai Thee Khong ya!

Hypocrite

Hypocrite is one who hides his intentions & true personality. It can be applied on both an individual or a company. In this post, I will talk about both.

Many MNCs are appointing marketing agency to manage their marketing activities both 'above the line' (ATL) & 'below the line'. So many times we can see a lot of ignorant young birds holding the position of Brand or Product Managers fail to achieve its KPI or define the ROI for a marketing campaign.

Online marketing campaigns which once an alien to a lot of MNCs are now on the most sought after marketing tool to boost branding & sales. However, many marketeers fail to live up to its expectation especially targeting bloggers campaign. In this scenario for example, I am putting a print screen of a real big FMCG company in Malaysia which run a campaign for bloggers to put up a post and in return is rewarding bloggers their self-claimed prizes that won't let you down.

Car drifting? Water rafting? Hiking?

To be fair, some bloggers are being paid as much as RM100 by just embedding the youtube video in a post.

I can now understand why not many bloggers are keen on this and a famous blogger campaigning for this company wrote an advertorial on this while he is touring Vietnam. Is this an all paid trip? Or even considering this is not a paid trip, this blogger charges between RM2k to RM3k per post. Now I know why this smells like victory!

With all this pictures, it does not take a genius to figure out who am I talking about isn't it?



p/s: I will still send my this posting for the contest theme "If I had an absolute extreme life" but I doubt the nuffnang team will forward this posting to the company itself. If this post wins, prizes will be donated to the charity. In between, let me show you the example of a good online marketing campaign and talking about the prizes attractiveness. Check out this site here. At least they do not care whether you have unique visitors of 20 or 20k per day.

Counting Down To CNY

Despite the unpleasant start, things were alright for the past few first weeks of 2009. Although everyone is discussing about the recession and the economic crisis, it perhaps had affected the retailing industry but as far as ongoing project is concern, I had been busy submitting tenders & quotations. Just crossing fingers that everything will turns out well. There are many competitors in the market now, price is no longer the only tool to win bid & project, but those who can create value to the business which is important.

Talking about creating value, I am pretty upset with one FMCG company who has been a hypocrite in a way. I shall blog about it soon and hope the brand or product manager of this company will be more sensitive when running competition for bloggers. Another day for this.

And what's new in 2009 for me? I picked up golf, it had been a week since I played. Just cannot get enough of it. Thanks to a buddy who kind enough to give me a few Irons and I had invested on a glove, shoes & a weekend bag. Been playing almost everyday and hope to lose some weight this year. My doctor sounded not too happy when he examined me early this year. I gained about 10KG for the past 2 years. So, this year I decide to have quality & healthy lifestyle - reduce drinking, more golfing, get off from office earlier & perhaps swimming. Swimming will be possible once I conclude my condominium deal.

Now counting down to Chinese New Year (CNY), I had done a bit of clothing shopping during my trip to HK and adding to that, I had quick shopping in One Utama yesterday. Got tops & slacks for myself and Polo Tee for both mom & dad and my youngest brother. Am looking forward to the long one week holidays where I will spend with my family in Malacca and going for a quick breakaways to Indonesia.

That's the quick update for now. An early Gong Xi Fa Cai to all. See you peeps soon.

Glory Glory Man United & Nike Advertorial

ADV: Watch the latest Nike Ad by Ronaldo



Good news on a Thursday, with a match in hand and a win this morning against the Wigan, the Devils climbed to second spot and this Sunday, we should see a new leader in the English Premier League.



However, we might be missing Rooney out because of injury against Wigan. With limited choice on the strikers, I do hope Ronaldo can again shine like he did last year which recently earned him the World Best Player award.

GLORY GLORY MAN UNITED!!!

Golf

For the past few days, I had been missing from the blogosphere.

Reason - I picked up golf. I never like this sport when I was younger and I swallowed my words and I am now somehow addicted to it.

Tips for beginner in golf.

1. Get a good glove - I bought myself a Nikepro for only RM45 in RGT Kelana Jaya.



2. Get a club - for beginners, go for Wedges or Iron 7. Do not go for a full golf set if you just wanna try it out. Loan it from your friends who are golfing. If you love the sport, then get a second hand iron set complete with wedges, putter & driver.



3. Golfing location - golf is no longer regarded as the sport for the rich. In Klang Valley itself, there are dozens of driving range clubs. Driving range in Bandar Utama (BU), Tropicana & Sri Damansara are some of my favorite spots. You go to driving range before go down to the green. Get your swing & mood right, be positive. And believe me when I said it is an affordable sport, driving range cost you averagely RM10 for every 100 balls.

4. Shoes - Beginner who play in driving range, a proper running/jogging sneakers will do. No slippers, sandals or flip-flops.

5. Warm Up - warm up and stretch yourself before swinging.

6. Hand & body position & swinging style - watch this video below



Happy Golfing!!!

Public Phone Got Me Thinking

2 days ago, I was having dinner by myself. In fact I am waiting for a friend at a kopitiam nearby, my mobile had been indicating the 'low batt' for quite a while and it died out eventually. And feeling uneasy without a phone, I walked to the nearest public phone available, I looked at the numpads on the public phone and instead of making calls, I made a further unneccessary thinking looking at the public phone.

I had been relying so much on the mobile phone and the contacts. I thought to myself what if I do not have a phone? What if I am in emergency without a phone, who should I contact? Then I start to think of numbers I can remember, screening through the list minus all my family and home contacts, these people listed below in fact had played a significant important role and have a great impact in my life.

***-*** 0031
***-*** 4490
***-*** 3089

Thanks for being part of my life.

Happy Birthday Mikemmery's Mommy

8th January 2008. Early morning I made a call to mom as today is her birthday. Then for the whole day I am out of office meeting clients all over, from Mon't Kiara to Putrajaya then to Sri Damansara. Finished with my client about 9PM and while driving home from LDP, I felt the rush of inspiration in me to write about mommy as today is her auspicious day.

Happy birthday Mommy!!! Sorry for not being able to celebrate with you but we had a great dinner last week right?

My mommy is officially 53 years old. And I looked back all these years to present day, it is her who had been listening to me attentively, gives me the support and courage when I am at the lowest point of my life. I shared a lot with mom. Even my darkest secrets but she never condemned me and if not because of her, I would have given up my life.

Mom knew I had tattoos, 3 of them. One bearing dad's & her name. Mom cried when she knew I broke up, mom introduced to me those evergreen English songs of her era during my childhood, mom helped me when I confronted difficulties, called me to console me when she knew I am upset. I can just go on & on about her.

Thanks mom for all these. Just want you to know that although I am pretty stuck up with my work, I cannot get my mind off you.

Happy birthday Mommy!!! I LOVE YOU!!!

The South of Border 国境之南

Watched Cape No. 7 last night, first time watching a Taiwanese movie in fact. Storyline on a relationships 60 years ago & present. I got to admit I am touched.

60 years past, he passed away with his memories. It's beautiful. I am also captivated with the meaning of the main song of the movie titled "The South of Border". I googled and thanks to Echowillow, for the translation of the song. As I hummed along, I felt warm. Perhaps it's good to have the hope and to continue the journey.

Enjoy the song...

如果海会说话

rú guǒ hǎi huì shuō huà

If the sea can speak

如果风爱上砂

rú guǒ fēng ài shàng shā

If the wind falls in love with the gravel sands

如果有些想念

rú guǒ yǒu xiē xiǎng niàn

If part of this longing

遗忘在漫长的长假

yí wàng zài màn cháng de cháng jià

is forgotten during the long vacation

我会聆听浪花

wǒ huì ling tīng làng huā

I will listen to the waves of the ocean

让风吹过头发

ràng fēng chuī guò tóu fa

With the wind blowing through my hair

任记忆里的爱情

rèn jì yì lǐ de ài qíng

Letting the love in my memories

在时间潮汐里喧哗

zài shí jiān cháo xì lǐ xuān huá

Roar through time and tide

非得等春天远了夏天才近了

fēi děi děng chūn tiān yuǎn le xià tiān cái jìn le

Only after spring has gone and summer draws near

我是在回首时终于懂得

wǒ shì zài huí shǒu shí zhōng yú dǒng de

That I, while recalling, finally understood

当阳光 再次

dāng yang guāng zài cì

When the sunlight, once again

回到那飘着雨的国境之南

huí dào nà piāo zhe yǔ de guó jìng zhī nán

Returns to the south of the border falling with rain

我会试着把那一年的故事

wǒ huì shì zhe bǎ nà yī nián de gù shì

I will attempt to continue on until the end

再接下去说完

zài jiē xià qu shuō wán

the story of that year

当阳光 再次

dāng yang guāng zài cì

When the sunlight, once again

离开那太晴朗的国境之南

lí kāi nà tài qíng lǎng de guó jìng zhī nán

departs from the south of the border where clear skies rein

妳会不会把妳曾带走的爱

nǐ huì bù huì bǎ nǐ céng dài zǒu de ài

Will you return the love you took away

在告别前用微笑全归还

zài gào bié qián yòng wēi xiào quán guī huán

with a smile before you bid goodbye

海很蓝 星光灿烂

hǎi hěn lán xīng guāng càn làn

The sea is very blue; the stars twinkle brightly

我仍空着我的臂弯

wǒ réng kōng zhe wǒ de bì wān

And still my arms remain empty

天很宽 在我独自唱歌的夜晚

tiān hěn kuān zài wǒ dú zì chàng gē de yè wǎn

The skies are wide; in the night when I sing alone

请原谅我的爱诉说的太缓慢

qǐng yuán liàng wǒ de ài sù shuō de huǎn màn

Please forgive me for telling you of my love too slowly

当阳光 再次

dāng yang guāng zài cì

When the sunlight, once again

回到那飘着雨的国境之南

huí dào nǎ piāo zhe yǔ de jìng zhī nán

Returns to the south of the border falling with rain

我会试着把那一年的故事

wǒ kuài shì zhe bǎ nà yī nián de gù shì

I will attempt to continue on until the end

再接下去说完

zài jiē xià qu shuō wán

the story of that year

当阳光 再次

dāng yang guāng zài cì

When the sunlight, once again

离开那太晴朗的国境之南

lí kāi nà tài qíng lǎng de guó jìng zhī nán

departs from the south of the border where clear skies rein

妳会不会把妳曾带走的爱

nǐ huì bù huì bà nǐ céng dài zǒu de ài

Will you return the love you took away

在告别前用微笑全归还

zài gào bié qián yòng wēi xiào quán guī huán

with a smile before you bid goodbye

Unpleasant Start For 2009

Today officially the first day of my working day and I am down with viral fever, a very bad throat & flu at the same time. Not a great start for me indeed. As each and every year flashed by at a lightning quick speed, I felt old and mentality wise, my mind is not as strong as before. I lost the tiger instinct.

The desire to succeed is strong, I tried to take up every single deal that I can conclude and instead of finishing off a deal, I can feel that my pace is not like before. Work pending, presentations to make, datelines to meet, calls to return, emails to reply & appointments to meet. Looking at all these sometimes turn me off totally and the idea of getting a proper rest at home - physically I am home but mentally I am thinking of my work. This is not very healthy indeed. I need some shed of light, I need some inspiration.

What is there to inspire me???

I wonder, I really wonder...