Mind-fucking students' mind

What do you actually do when you go to university?

Learn? Yeah, right. Only 10% of all students really study at all time. The other time? They will be hanging around doing nothing and some even goes the distance doing various delinquencies. Where else most people learn how to smoke pot.

I was not the naughtiest or the learned student in my batch of '98. I studied locally and I never work for anyone. I build my business from scratch and the road was not rosy at all. So, I do know a few thing about being an entrepreneur. Not being related to any royalty or politician in Malaysia will take me longer to drive that Ferrari.

My ranting above is related to an experience I had this morning. 

I was asked to be a part of a project related to making local university's students to think outside the box. As I was busy bullshitting the student council members who was enraptured with whatever all that I can think of including embracing social media and even a dose of real life situation vs. life in the university, the lecturers who is supervising them came in.

I bet she was horrified at what I was telling the students. Especially when I told them about their alumni members who are now making a living by singing and doing public relations unconventionally.

She then expertly divert the students attention to the need to use their mind to focus on how to read case law while applying various techniques to do more research. I did divert her mind that I do understand their need to be educators by saying the alumni members used their legal trained mind to apply it to their everyday business.

I tweeted just now, I think as much as the project is under the patronage of their Vice Chancellor, the best way to make the students competitive when they enter the job market in one or two years with a high income is to make them realised that the world out there is big and a law degree doesn't help you gain more money or even make you get ahead of your career unless you really apply common sense and teach the teachers to think outside the box.

At the back of my mind, I was actually thinking, the students who are now successful adult, no thanks to the oppressive nature they were asked to learn, are what they are due to the oppression. Whatever it is, when the slot I was given comes, the only way I can make them see the way the can be successful is to mind-fuck their young minds. 

Only then can they truly see the light...

How did I published my first book?

The books I wrote

I saw a tweet yesterday by @self_publish : Instead of "I Published a Book," Tell "the Story Behind the Story". Interesting tweet right? And it made me realised the one common question by anyone who got to know me through social media as an author. I actually never think of myself as a great author and there is a valid reason for this. I always do badly in my grammar. I will always need a good editor. After I published my first book, I realised the point of having editors and how infuriating is an editor's job.

So, how did I published my first book?

I did write about it long ago but it was more of an announcement with a bit of the stories of how the book got published. The blogposts are; I wrote a book and now someone wants to publish it : the story of how proud I was that someone like Azizi Ali, a property investment writer wanted to publish my book; Before you buy that house ask your lawyer this : which was a draft of what the book is finally was and Writing workshop : the second blogpost ever for this blog which was the story of the writing workshop by Azizi Ali which led to him publishing my book. As they say, to have a blog is to keep a diary. If the journey is writing, I consider this blog as the map which charts it. It is where I drafted, mapped out and it is also where I sharpen my writing skill.

If you read any of the blogposts I listed above, it would show how I started my writing journey by going to the workshop offered by Azizi Ali. And if you go further back, you will get to know how I decided to go to that workshop as I thought I was already at a plateau which was a comfort zone in terms of work. I was thinking as I have read Azizi Ali's book since early 2000, I might as well learn something new on how to write a book by attending his workshop. I went to attend his workshop and then I went one step further. I pitched an idea for a book to him. A book which I know how to write and is about the lifeblood of my business : the conveyance of property in Malaysia, specifically on the function of lawyers.

With Azizi Ali, the man who decided to publish my book

After I went to the workshop on how to write books, I started writing. It was thwarted by my discovery of blogging. I became an avid blogger and I learned how to better my writing. I write on various issues about law and even wrote a few fictions spurred by events in my own life. I would post a blogpost every day. It took its toll on my book. I set to write my book in 2008 but by August 2009, I was still writing. When I got to know about a book by another lawyer writing within the same vein being published by Azizi Ali's publishing company, True Wealth Sdn Bhd in September 2009, I finally took the initiative by locking myself in my house for nearly a week, finalised the draft for the book and sent it to my publisher. That was the start of the editing process which saw the English version of the book to be published on 31st January 2010. The Bahasa Malaysia version took a much shorter time to write as I translated it myself and it was finally out by 1st May 2010. 

I guess what finally motivated me to finish writing is the need to beat another person from writing what I had in mind first. I never realised that True Wealth may talk to other writers out there who can write a similar title like mine. When it was published, I found out it was on Number 6 in a well-known local bookstore chain : MPH Bookstore. It is still being sold and can be bought online through that store or through my publisher, True Wealth online store : Book Planet. 

The lesson I learned is this from blogging and writing : Although I was engrossed in self-publishing myself on the internet, it didn't give me any returns unlike the two versions of my book which have been a form of marketing for my legal firm.

That, in itself, as they say, is another story....

So, this is what luxury holiday means....

I once stayed in the local Ritz-Carlton as a wedding anniversary getaway with my wife where it claims that it has a 24-hour butler service. Although they do attend to my whims nearly the whole time we were them, their efficiency and claim they are available all the time, was a bit untested as we were in the mood of being left alone than being attended to.

Then, I was asked by a long lost friend whom I just recently got reacquainted to come and join her at a Villa in Phuket. She did asked me whether I can get away in the middle of the week, and as I can do that, I did. Off I when to Phuket with a one-day lead time with my wife.

Basically, it was heavenly. The place is nice. More than nice. We have a cook (two actually) who will attend to us everytime we were in the villa. We have a concierge who arranged everything. A driver. Basically, I now know how royalty lives. Oh, and there were 2 English Lords are actually living within the Estate. 

The villa is 3 storeys, has 5 bedrooms, a family room, a swimming pool on the top floor, a billiard table, a ping pong table, a massage pavilion, iPod docking stereo units everywhere, a kitchen and 2 kitchenettes.

We had a massage on the morning of the second day. We went horse riding, which was a first for both of us. We played mini-golf. We ate seafood, with my wife eating a RM123-00 lobster as big as her head. Basically, we just had a very, very short luxurious getaway. Don't get me wrong, only the villa is paid for. The other expenditure, we do have to foot the bill ourselves.

And it was fun to live like royalty.... It is a big industry here in Thailand which offer villas and full service apartments and hotels for tourist and vacation clubs. Basically, it is hassle free, as long as you have the money.

Islamic Finance weekend plus Monday

It was a very important occasion for me on a personal level and my legal firm as I graduated from International Center for Education of Islamic Finance ("INCEIF")on 23rd October 2010. I now can add Chartered Islamic Finance Professional at the back of my name or CIFP (INCEIF) in short. I started the part time program of this course in 2007 and now I managed to graduated with around 80 other graduands. Our names were published in the newspaper on that day.

All this week, other than the graduation ceremony of INCEIF graduands, there was a bigger event in Malaysia relating to Islamic finance. It was the Global Islamic Finance Forum or GIFF in which INCEIF played a very big role. As Islamic finance grows, these professionals are needed to fill the needs of Islamic finance institution like syariah advisory boards, takaful operators, Islamic banks, sovereign funds of Islamic countries and universities which are supplying these professionals.

On Sunday, 24th October 2010, the Association for Chartered Islamic Finance Professional was launch and it is supposed to be a platform for all CIFP members to connect with each other exchanging ideas even after they became graduates. In short, it is an association for those still studying and those who have graduated, which is most universities is known as alumni.

On Monday, 25th October 2010, it was the first day of the Global Islamic Finance Forum  (GIFF) which had the Malaysian PM, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, the Central Bank Governor, Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar, and the patron of Malaysia Islamic Finance Center, Raja Nazrin Shah gracing the opening ceremony. At the end of it, there was the announcement of the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation to manage Islamic countries the liquidity of the countries who agree such as Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Bahrain, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Indonesia and a few others. It was a coup by Islamic Financial Service Board as they will be managing the fund.

All this Islamic finance development is made more meaningful as I also achieved a new personal milestone and this picture is one of the best that I will treasure forever :

With the Chancellor of INCEIF and Governor of Central Bank Msia

Finally I graduated

This coming week will be another milestone for me. After studying part-time for nearly 3 years for my Certified Islamic Finance Professional (CIFP) degree from International Centre of Education for Islamic Finance (INCEF). The beauty of it is that this degree is equivalent to a Masters degree which means that I can straight away apply and do a PhD study course if I choose so. I am still thinking about it as I am not sure the benefit I can gain from such study.

This CIFP will help my legal firm to do work for many of the Islamic finance institutions like Islamic banks, takaful (Islamic insurance) company and many of the companies which use Islamic finance concept in their business. Islamic finance is going big in Malaysia and there is this one interesting post-graduate scholarship which is being offered in Oxford under Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies which is fully sponsored by Khazanah Malaysia (a Malaysia government-linked company). As someone who never studied outside of Malaysia, I am actually contemplating this more for the experience.

Anyway, my graduation is on the 23rd of October, shy of 4 days of my birthday. As someone who is old as me, there is no better birthday present than this...

Suhaila Saad got her LL.M while I still struggle with my CIFP

My partner, Suhaila Saad, finally got her LL.M or Master in Law 2 weeks ago from Universiti Malaya after studying for nearly one and a half years. She toiled and nearly gave up saying she just couldn't study while juggling work and then picked herself up again and finally graduating. When she studied, her room will be off-limit and she would seem too tensed even to strike up a conversation, at sometimes. She did look like she was studying while she was taking her Masters.

As for me, who enrolled in 2006 in a course called Chartered Islamic Finance Professional or better known as CIFP from a new university (then) called International Center for Education in Islamic Finance which was set-up by Bank Negara Malaysia, I am still at it. This university which is already 4 years old had only just one convocation before the next one in end of October 2010.

I am finishing up my Exemption Paper which is called Professional Practice Paper (PPP) to highlight the relevance of my profession (law) to Islamic finance. Actually they are so different from one another unless you are those few lawyers in town who help bankers to put together products and defend the banks which use Islamic finance products in court. This is actually is the basis of my PPP which simply highlight the contribution of lawyers in development of Islamic finance.

The difference between my partner and me is that when I study, except for some shout of frustration (when I can't understand an Islamic finance concept) or some frantic search for a specific words among the other lawyer in my firm, I basically does not look like I was studying. Some of my friends are actually surprised when I told them I am taking another degree. Maybe that is the difference between studying in a real classroom environment (her) and a mostly online course, except for the exams (me). 

Am really hoping I can join her before the 2010 ends...

You can view the pictures of us having lunch after her graduation here.

Property Investment For a New Decade seminar

I was a guest speaker (more to answer questions which revolve around legal matter than anything else) by a prominent speaker, Azizi Ali last Saturday, the 22nd of May. Let me tell you a bit about Azizi Ali. He is a writer who is also a pilot. I never knew he is a pilot until I attended his seminar. I have written about him a few time in this blog and basically you can say that I consider him as a mentor. For the past 3 years, he mentored me through his book and for the last 6 months, I have private sessions with him (actually more of a teh tarik session where we eat together while talking) which some people will have to pay to get as close as I got to him.

After knowing him, his wife and his staff, the enigma which you always get when you first a man of distinction is not there anymore. That enigma becomes a kind of respect you reserve for those who is unrelenting in trying to accumulate knowledge through every pores of his being. He reads and it can be seen that he is very knowledgeable. Rarely can you catch him not knowing a piece of news. This is amazing for a man who does not watch television (which is something I can't live without). He told me at the seminar in where I first met him and his wife corroborate it when she says she does not watch TV too.

At the launch of my book at KL International Book Fair

So, it was exhilarating when he asked me to be in one of his seminar as a guest speaker. I was told by his team that he does not ask anyone lightly to be a guest speaker. I was told I will be getting a token payment (which is a surprise for me). The seminar sale went very well and the target that he set for his team of selling 40 seats was exceed by another 20 participants. 

I managed to answer all the questions that was thrown to me, except for one question on auction, which was helped along by a lawyer who was there for his client. I don't claim to be an expert on auction although I know the basic of it but on all other questions, I aced it and even that particular lawyer keep nodding his head every time I answered correctly. Felt a bit like a schoolboy managing to answer the teacher's questions but it did boost my confidence. And another surprise for me was the fact I was only needed for 30 minutes. My slot was stretched for 10 minutes but Azizi is very particular about time and he cut short a guy who was pestering me to give me a short course on Islamic finance. 

Afterward, I did asked Azizi how does he rate my performance. He was satisfied and he even told me that he is going to have the same seminar later in the year and wants me to be there again. I can only say yes. Who doesn't want to be a speaker with a guy whom you know through books and magazines and now ask you to be a part of his team. As I do that, I get to pick his brain? That is a no-brainer....

The only thing is, should I start to hold my own seminar or should I wait first...(thinking more of the latter)

Car as tax deductible

I am not and accountant or even a tax lawyer. So, please lay off the comment on my understanding of tax which is skewed more towards how I can save from paying the government than how I can plan my tax. Basically, I think the term 'tax planning' is the same as 'I am not going to pay the government money and all I want is for the money I earn to be enjoyed by me (and maybe those close to me)'. So, that is why this year, for the past few blogposts, you can see how much money I have spent in keeping my staff entertained. You do know that any money spent on your staff can be deducted from your tax right? All of it, except for transportation (I wonder why?)

Anyway, talking about transportation, we have decided to finally buy a car for our company. Not just any car. It can even be described as one of the few dream cars a few in the world would love to have. And no, I am not buying it for myself but as one of the partner in this two-person show of a legal firm, we have unanimously decided for my beautiful partner to have one of her dream car as our first company car.

In Malaysia, any company, even a partnership like us, can get a tax deduction of RM150,000-00 for any car which purchase price is below RM150,000-00 but that amount will be cut to RM100,000-00 if the car is priced at more than  RM150,000-00. I wonder where do they get the RM150,000-00 from but I suspect it have to do with the price of the most expensive Malaysian car which is just around RM110,000-00. Then the car must also be brand new as any second-hand or reconditioned car, the deduction may be cut into half of the amount spent by the company. And if there is a car loan involved then the amount which can be deducted from that year tax is the amount spent in paying the deposit and the car loan. Not the total purchase price of the car. Clear?

Some will question the choice of the car as too flashy or too impracticable for a company car but it must be pointed out that we are still below the age of 40 and we are not the type who are driven around but we are those who love to drive. So, a sport car for my partner is just perfect.

And it does not mean that we are so cash rich that we can just buy the car with one eye close (like a few of our politicians) but there is this invention called a car loan where you only have to pay a certain amount of cash and get a loan for the balance of the purchase price. Of course, we do have to watch out on our cash flow in which we have to maintain a certain collection momentum in order for us to be able to maintain the monthly payment. Maybe one day when a few of our corporate clients really appreciate our contribution to their bottom line, we can buy it in cash....

By the way, here is the look of the new car with my partner beside it which hopefully will be out in a few week. And mind you, it is NOT a brand new car but as is usual in Malaysia, it is a reconditioned car which has a warranty of 3 years from the car dealership.

Business and tax

This is not the first time I wrote about business and tax and it may not be the last.

When anyone start a business, especially when you start from scratch and have to learn new things every other day, tax is the least of your worry. What you keep thinking of every business day is whether you will make enough money for you to take home to your family and be in business another day when the sun goes up tomorrow.

Which is where most business get stuck when they starts to make money. 

The tax consultant call it 'Tax Planning'. Most business people call it 'Why the heck should I pay the government who never really know how to spend it in the first place and ....(insert all sort of excuse/expletive here)'

Basically, people hate tax. Until they need something from a government body or institution which is funded by tax. Hence the argument in the last paragraph. No one wants to admit that the government is efficient enough to be paid anything. And taking 28% (which is getting lower by the year) of the business people hard earned money is never gonna be easy, especially if there are too many 'secrets' in the government of the day.

Again, bad tax planning is the biggest culprit in your money going to them.

If you think your company, staff and management (which is usually you) deserve to have the benefit of all your hard work, there are so many ways in doing it. Some call it cheating but most businesspeople call it 'knowledge'. Yes, there is a reason when some call knowledge as the most valuable thing you can invest in your life. 

That is why this year my staff will have the best year of their life all fully sponsored by the firm, and one person will even get a full scholarship to further her study. 

Yes, we do love you all but we hate tax more...

How to market a book....

When I went to a seminar on How to Write a Bestseller in 88 days by Azizi Ali, the so-called Millionaires Coach, which I told its stories in the first and second entries of this blog, in 2008, which you can read about it here and here, I was told by Azizi Ali that he liked the idea of my book. I actually approached him and ask him would he buy my book if it is in the market.

He said, "Yes, he would". That was good enough for me. I know I have a good idea...

...but putting idea on paper was another matter altogether. I only managed to really write in October 2009, which was nearly one year after I attended the workshop. I was sidetrack by blogging (which include attending events and trying to make money out of it), work, life and travel. How I even managed to finish the book is still a mystery.

Then, come the hard part. Promoting my book.

The advice given by Azizi in that workshop was easy. The author sells his book. Not the publisher, the distributor, the bookstore, his friend or whatever mode of marketing you can think of, done by other people (of course, this comes after getting the right book that sells)

So, that was what I have been doing. Long before I have a book to market. I think I mentioned my book anywhere I can get an audience. In real life and in what is now popularly known as social media. You can find me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. I also have a YouTube account and such but for the purpose of marketing a book of this kind, the three links was enough.

And, my book seems to have an audience. It managed to be on MPH (a local bookstore with a nationwide presence) Malaysian local author bestseller list for 2 weeks in a row after just 2 weeks of its release. You can see it here and here.

I am not sure how did the reader found my book, which they can comment here or anywhere. I am also curious on whether social media really did play a part. Of course, I did managed to sell a few of the book myself but that does not count on the tally did by the bookstores.

I am busy with my book now but I know it is important for a presence to be kept in social media and that is why I am writing a blogpost on what I am busy with.

Personal and business achievements in 2009

Why not write the resolutions which I managed to achieve and those which I may regret a bit but is just a part and parcel of life? Right? Especially as posterity....Isn't a blog is an online diary?

As this is a business and legal blog, let looks at it in the business sense.

There was one big event where my legal firm changed from having three partners to two partners. I am one of the one who stay and my partner whom I opened up the small legal firm ten years ago is still here. We have been through the phase of shouting at each other on how to pay our small car then to managing a firm of nearly 15 people. We have been through 3 other partners but we have stuck with each other through all the business decisions, bad or good, the personal tumult, personal accomplishment and all that one can think of when you are 10 years together.

We celebrated our 10 years of opening the firm on 20.09.2009 as we registered a firm known as Khairul, Suhaila & Co. 10 years ago on 20.09.2000. In all the 10 years, not all were rosy and lovely. We had to scrape whatever we could find, we had to inject a lot of investment, we sacrificed some of our personal investment and we did all that while we fall in and out of love, build a home, meet new friends and all that jazz....

As for my own personal investment, I actually revamped my portfolio this whole year. I sold one high-end property, got the key to the office I bought with my partner, pawned off another semi high-end property to pay for some debt the firm had invested in, sold of a bungalow plot, sold off a property investment I bought with my wife and refinance my house. Still waiting for one or two of those revamps still in the process of being completed but they are nearly completed.

Of course, there is that one personal hurdle which I consider as my Everest in my writing career. I have finally finished writing my first non-fiction and have been commission to write four other books (2 of them are translation, but need to be written from scratch). In my repertoire there are 4 ideas of fiction where I want to propose to another publisher under a different name and I actually have 2 scripts which some directors have shown interest in.

Yes, from the list above, you can only imagine how busy my 2010 will be. I am readying myself for a new decade and hoping what I do on a personal level will help my business go to another level. It is a daunting task but I think I am up for it...

Have a great New Years Eve and Have a Great Year Ahead....

Legal and Property : New blog direction 2010

As someone who has been in the blogging scene more than a year and had the chance to learn about stuff which may not be understood by others, I am bad at implementing it myself. I know that I should keep on using the same keyword over and over while having a niche to myself. I know that if I keep talking about events I attended or suddenly go off-tangent to promote some products which I have never or even may never use, my blog readers will lose interest and go somewhere else.

I know all these facts but I was just having fun with blogging. I know it is a powerful social media tool. Still. But, I am actually gaining something else from it. I met new friends. I learned new stuff. I am accepted in certain circle which I can only gawp at before. I go places and attended events. Too many of them actually.

I enjoyed myself and as you grow older, as much as money and recognition is important, having fun becomes rarer and rarer. When was the last time you had a night out without having to drink something to help you laugh out loud? I do that all the time with a bunch of different people nowadays.

However, blog existence is another matter altogether. My book is going to be published next year and I am hoping to establish myself as someone people can go to for legal and property advice. My firm has some history on doing work from the cheapest property you can think of in Malaysia to the most expensive one like lands which cost millions or building of same value. All these will be my track record in real life.

Which I hope to extend to my online existence.

As an avid social media user, I should be using it to harness its power to turn it into real life existence. I know that social media maybe just a passing fad but it is a formidable force. In this one year, 2009, I did managed to advice, gain clients and even help people who got to know me through social media, either it is my blog, through Twitter and even those who emailed me.

So, from now on, I will be posting more of my thoughts which relate to property and law. Or those which has everything to do with law in Malaysia. Although I did launch Ask the Lawyer which is a blog where you can ask me, as a lawyer anything, I think this blog has been too well-known to be ignored. A brand is only good when it is recognised and Legal Cat-asthrophe or kruel74 is a brand on its own.

Which I should take advantage of....

p.s. - But I am still gonna post about events and other things...

How much my business have grown : Events in 2009

 The year has been a great one from me with various events taking place on a professional level which I can only dream of years before. As I am too consume with my writings, I will just put up a few of the events pictures and explain them.

From top, the first one was a launch of the small aircraft Cirrus CR-22 which I had the privilege of witnessing. The second picture was taken during the opening of the Ferrari showroom by the Naza group. The third was the TEDxKL which is a TED endorsed event featuring a few big names including the late Yasmin Ahmad, the legendary film director extraordinaire of Malaysia. The last was the launch of a kopitiam owns by a client whom my firm have grown together with since we were just a 2 persons outfit.

To say that I am quite amaze at the leaps and bound I have grown professionally is an understatement. With these developments, I am hoping for a great year in 2010....

Avatar is the theme for 2009

I am not just talking about the movie but they are the driving force of the avatar landscape that we are experiencing now. With 3 movies where you can escape from being yourself and be something else through technology, are we getting any nearer to being someone else through other medium.

I am talking about 3 movies which are Surrogates, Gamers and now the behemoth of the avatar theme, Avatar by the uber film-maker, James Cameron of the Titanic, True Lies and Abyss.

Surrogates were an adaptation of a book which is very much makes you anticipate Avatar more. Gamers was just there as a filler. Good action idea but not as good delivery. In term of rating, I would rate the 3 movies from Surrogates to Gamers to Avatar. Surrogates are too poorly executed but Gamers' camera was too in-your-face that it became nauseating.....

Avatar, the movie? Wow, that is one trip you want to take again and again. Am not going to review it yet as I think there is nothing for you to know except my advice is to go and watch it. If you can afford it, watch it in 3-D. The experience is something very, very worthwhile.

Other than movies, people have been using avatar to hide their face and become whatever they dream of with avatars. In Facebook and Twitter. In many other social media. The peak was the past months when even in Facebook, the accounts have been staggering. Yes, of course, there are people with more than one account, but you cannot deny the fact the list is growing. Day by day.

Does it not become more and more a reality when all those movies become a reality? In Malaysia, we do drive cars as if we will never get hurt if we get into an accident. An avatar syndrome in the making?

Twestival KL Happens this year and it brings people behind avatars together

Bremont : From pilots to watchmakers

It may not described this company in full, but this is what the brothers who currently own the Britain wristwatch company told us during the launch of their new collection in Royale Chulan Hotel. You may say that I am going to harp again about another posh event that I went to but this one has an interesting business story.

The family who owns the company has the surname English. Quite a name, huh? The brothers even made jokes about their name being unacceptable in certain countries. Nick and Giles were both in Malaysia and mingled with us on that day.

If you go to their website, Bremont.com, you will see there are a lot of planes in the pictures. It seemed that they have a lot of history with planes. They were pilots and their father actually died while piloting a plane. One of the brother was in it (which I'm not sure which one) and the one who was holding the microphone then joked that the one in the plane that day is not quite right today. That is the life changing event that changed the course of their company. I wonder what event in my life would make me do such a thing. Do you know what is yours?

Joke aside, they changed the direction of the company and they became watchmakers. They don't really have a long history of watchmaking but they do put them under a stringent test. They strapped it on a pilot and eject the guy from a plane. The watch is supposed to withstand that force.

The video that they showed that night had John Boorman who rode with Ewan McGregor around the world on a motorbike (quite a biography there which my wife and I love). That is another life changing event which changed how Ewan and John decided to take a lifelong passion into a journey. They did another journey across Africa after, which book I still have to read.

And get this. One of their watch is not for sale for whatever price. You will be offered the watch if you earned it. And leave it to my business partner who went to one of the brother and asked him that night, with a glint in her eye "What should I do to get one of those limited edition watch?". He simply answered "Wear a jumpsuit and do what that pilot in the video did. Being ejected from a cockpit of a jetfighter plane!".

I think I can do that too....

The watch in a display case

The watches on the models that night

Would M.Nasir/Ramli Sarip be given the same treatment

I just saw Sir Bob Geldof being given a VIP welcome in the local television station. He was touring the place and was then seen having a discussion with a few of the senior management of the television station. The newscaster then said, he was there to share his ideas. He is in Malaysia to talk at the Youth Engagement Summit which was held for youth to interact with world leaders. Among the imminent persons who had given talks and answered questions among other were Geldof, Randi Zuckenberg of CNN, Biz Stone of Twitter and Malaysia's own Fernandes of AirAsia.

I did not attend this event although I wanted to as the fee is too much to pay for little old me. I actually am thankful when I didn't attend as the Twitter-feed I was reading when the event was going on showed speeches which can be read again and again in their books and other events. Some of the participants who was interviewed said they were inspired by getting to question their idol. There was this one guy who was trying to get Geldof to commit to a Band Aid type of event in Asia. He was actually considered to be rude and uncouth in his attempt to do such thing. I consider him to be brave although a tad foolish.

Who is this Geldof actually? He is a singer-songwriter and in short a rocker in the 70s. He had successfully organised a few events which are best known to raise money for Africa and one of the famous one is Band Aid where other band came and perform while they raise money for the famine in Ethiopia. It was considered a success. The current group MD of the Malaysian television station who had invited Geldof is well-known for his charity work. So, maybe that is why he invited Geldof to pick his brain.

Malaysia has its share of rockers and well-known person giving their all to charity. I am just wondering whether of them are singer-songwriters or even those who has anything to do with music to be as charitable or as inventive in trying to raise money for charity as Geldof. Here in Malaysia, among a few of the well-known musicians are M.Nasir and Ramli Sarip. I wonder how will they fare in fundraising.

Best time to read textbook is when there is no exams

I was a post-graduate student a few months ago. Where I had to cram reading books and memorising Islamic finance terms for the examinations that I have to pass to get my scroll. I am not really out of it yet. Meaning, I still have to deliver something to my university in the form of an exemption paper. I have managed to get this exemption due to the experience I have gained for the past 10 years as a lawyer. I now have to relate the course I took to my experience as a lawyer. It means that I have to show the influence or the usage of Islamic finance in being a lawyer in Malaysia. As my legal firm has been servicing Islamic banks since its inception, it is not really a stretch for me to do this.

The only problem is for me to start doing it. I have been sitting on this paper for nearly 4 months now. My last examination paper was in June 2009. I had managed to gain 2 distinction for the 12 papers that I took. Not bad for someone who hates to study. I usually like to use common sense when I study. I try to understand the concept of each Islamic finance terminology and then apply it to an everyday situation. It usually works as I seem to have the knack to convey messages quite well. It may not gain me any credence as a great student but it helps me to pass my exams.

And don't you think that the best time for you to gain knowledge is when you know that what you read is for you to know and not for some exams which you are trying to pass? Usually, when you are a kid, you will be trying to get out of reading when your parents ask you to read. When I was a kid, I had this weird exception. I learn all the lessons reserved for kids who are attending high school while I was still in primary school. I was still learning how to subtract and about the dynamics of probability but I was already learning the basic of algebra then. That was all thanks to my mother who had sent me to this math teacher who was just supposed to babysit me. As the only way for her to entertain me is through math, she gave me an old math schoolbook for me to play with.

Boy, was it fun.

When I reached the age which I am supposed to learn the same subject, I was already bored with it. It was even my downfall. I was too engrossed with mathematical problems of higher level that I neglect to revision the subjects which I was to be tested.

However, I did managed to graduate from high school although I was not the best student or those who received accolades. Being able to pass without studying is still my forte. It may not makes me the well-known one among my family. That is for my second brother to bask in as he is a doctor. Everyone will always rely on the doctor the most, who can save live, in contrast with the lawyer whose only gift is the gift of the gab...

MINT Museum of Toys

This place is one of the place which I enjoyed being in for the nostalgia it brings. The old toys I played when I was young and the chance meeting with the owner. He even showed me the spacecraft which Luke Skywalker use to clow up Deathstar which stands at 6 feet although it was not put together yet. My wife and I took so many pictures as we can recall a lot of the cartoons that we love when we were young. The place only holds toys up to 1990s. After that most of it can still be found (but there was a full size Darth Maul replica)

The only thing that I can't understand is the not playing with the toy part. What are toys for if not to be played with? Broken into pieces and thrown at walls. Didn't Toy Story had taught us all this? Maybe not as some of the toys can be downpayment for a car. That is if it is in mint condition perfectly preserve in its box. The MINT in the name of the museum stands for Moment of Imagination and Nostalgia with Toys. The place is an architectural wonder and is a cafe, a restaurant and a wine bar. There was a birthday party about to take place in one of the floor when we were there. It was for a kid. Who can never touch the toys...

The word that describe the owner and the curator who took us around is Passion. I cannot for the life of me not touch any of the toys. They also know a whole lot of facts which if you know the answers to all the questions the cutator throws at you, let him answer it. He hates the fact other knows the same fact. When I answered why the old Batman is fat (Adam West anyone) he was genuinely irritated. But, maybe I was disturbing his flow...

With the owner and his wife

That shows a price of nearly S$12,500-00

 

The curator briefing us on how to make money from NOT playing with toys

 

Some of the posters there

Various Astro Boy

 

Dolls are toys too...

 

The Beatles

The pretender : The Monkey

 

 

Felix The Cat

 

The bar on the rooftop has a lot of cool signs

 

When I was a kid, all these matchbox cars would have been smashed against walls

 Hayata becomes Ultraman...

A Merry-Go-Round ride

Remote control peacock?

 

Gollywogs which is so not PC

Betty Boop