what will my flashbacks be?

Till today I marveled at how brilliant the human minds are. I watched Korean dramas once in a while (ok, not really once in a while but pretty often) & while of course the reason I even bother to watch them is because of the good looking actors (don’t judge, I am only human), but the reason that I can even continue watching another 16 episodes or so is because their story is compelling & makes one wonder. The latest one I watched was about how he is having glimpses of his future flashback when he is dying, that is – he is seeing what his happiest & saddest moments plus regrets of his life when he is dying in current time vs in the future (when he is supposedly dying).

I find this intriguing. I do not have such imaginative mind (much to my regret) to write such fiction but it does makes me wonder – What will my flashbacks be like when I am at my deathbed. Will I have happy flashbacks, sad ones or even regretful ones? Mostly, will I regret that I should have given my all or will I be glad that I have used my ‘alive’ time well?

Then there’s how the parents’ unconditional love to their daughter despite all the beatings & scoldings. I cannot imagine their heartache when their only daughter really do seem like a real ‘crazy b#$*h’ (that’s what the mother call the daughter!) . But I hope I can be like those parents.

The moral of the whole drama/story is of course to be honest with our hearts & not let pride takes us over – because pride almost always makes one regret later on. The parents recognized it earlier of course vs the younger one.

My takeaway though is not so much about not being honest with our hearts but more to what flashbacks I would have like to have? Maybe for every major decision of my life from now on, I should ask myself if this is one event that I want to have a positive flashback  or an event that I would regret during my dying moments. Will then my flashbacks makes me smile or cry before I leave?

Thoughts to ponder about.

 

So.. it’s ok to be bad-tempered

I really should switch to ‘linked-in’ for news feed & good articles on daily basis vs using the FB, else I really could have missed this super interesting article! Read > Why it pays to be grumpy & bad-tempered

And since Jeff Bezos was mentioned (which happens to me one my fave entreprenuer vs Jobs/Musk), the article was sold for me to continue reading.

So I am not the most mild mannered person around my office. And most often than not, after my angry outburst – I would feel super lousy because I will question my ‘leadership’ style & not to mention the ‘karma’ that goes with it. I would often wonder, when I do decide to work for another firm, how would I feel if I get shouted on like how I did. Needless to say – when the next time someone/something came up wrong or do something silly/stupid, I would lose my ‘please be calm’ reminder & go on my usual tirade. But hey – to be fair it is usually very effective! Which brings me to Jeff Bezos fave phrase during his tirade – “I’m sorry but did I take my stupid pills today?!” – too funny! I think the research probably forget to mention that these grumpy & bad tempered folks are also subconsciously humorous.

So yes, I am going to try to feel less guilty after every tirade as the article suggests:-

The next time someone tells you to “cheer up” – why not tell them how you’re improving your sense of fairness, reducing unemployment and saving the world economy? You’ll be having the last laugh – even if it is a world-weary, cynical snort.

I love Johor Bahru as it is

Maybe because I am getting old or maybe that I have read too much zen stuff, OR maybe I  JB has slowly grown onto me. 8 years ago – it was a different story.

There was a lot of things I cannot stand like the ‘slow’ culture, the ‘I don’t really need your money-ya know’ or ‘nothing is urgent-really’ attitude. It was a shock to me coming from a competitive environment like Singapore. But as time goes by, I think that is what really makes JB unique to me.  There are times I miss those artsy fartsy stuff that is easily available in S’pore or even the events that Spore can do just because they have the crowd & definitely the strong currency that one can earn but really when it comes to simple boring living , JB wins hands down.

So today – someone wrote about how Jaybee-ians are not willing to ‘pay’ a bit more for ‘better’ service & that maybe he has to move his business to up north. Well, I guess – if one needs those ‘extra’ money to buy another luxury car or another gold colored furniture at home or another ‘exotic’ cat/lizard/bird,  I guess JB is not the place to be.

JB folks are a practical lot. We do not see how having another expensive car is going to make one happier, or another expensive piece of furniture is going make our butts/bodies any healthier or even another exotic cat when there are dozens of abandon cats waiting for adoption are available at the pound.

We don’t go around drinking expensive coffee when we can have authentic local coffee that is cheaper by 800% vs some american brand (no kick at all for us!). We don’t go around eating some expensive fine dining when the food is so-so, cos we do not need to be ‘seen’ when we just want to enjoy our food as our tastes bud has very high standards. We KNOW good food vs average ones – trust me, real Johoreans can’t take average food as we will rather eat at home if we have to pay extra to eat average tasting food. Oh – but we do pay for good education. Someone used to tell me, education is placed at the ‘top’ Johoreans, & many are willing to pay for them. And Johoreans spends the most on education in M’sia.

Let’s not forget the not too far local suburbs (vs those foreigners’ oriented suburbs) community. There are free morning qigong classes available just because the teachers want to share the knowledge! There are oldies that have pot luck breakfast once a week in the garden! There are neighbours who make nice soups & share with their neighbour. They are people who go search for some local herbal plant when one hear one of the kids’ have HFM disease! There are people who plant vegetables & offer the community to take them if they want them (no charge!).

So ya – I love JB as it is. People are still the “I don’t need your money-ya know” attitude or “I do it because I want to & not because I want your money” or “what’s the rush” ?

For those who wants to make ‘more’ money by providing supposed better services – well, JBians are not interested in those extra services you see. They are just too practical. They prefer toyota vs audi/bmw just because they don’t see the need to be ‘seen’ with the car when a toyota gives us the same quality & service cos really – why do one need a ‘performance’ car when we don’t have that need speed from 0 to 100 kph in 8 secs or less when there are traffic lights to make you stop again?

So please – don’t criticise JBians about the service culture or  their ‘lack’ of want to spend more money on the extra services. We are not materialistic folks, we do not think that having extra service will make us feel any more ‘wonderful’ about ourselves.

Yes.. please leave JB & go join the city that people view you by your clothes you wear, the class you take in the flight, the car that you drive, the coffee joint that you go to, the place that you dine & the furniture that you use. Let’s not forget the city where you need 1 hour to travel to a place that’s 15km away or people who come out in droves into the shopping centres during weekends (btw, JB is a total opposite during weekends, people avoid the shopping centres, the roads are all CLEAR, people rather stay at home/go to parks & spend time with their family).

The list can go on & on about JB ‘s nothingness, boringness & simpleness.

So please, don’t go pollute your materialism into JB. JBians understands what is really living is like.