June 6th
I seem to always be in the right place at the right time or coming to Kuantan seems to provide a great source of inspiration for a soul seeking person like me!
I seem to always be in the right place at the right time or coming to Kuantan seems to provide a great source of inspiration for a soul seeking person like me!
Take for example this photo above, the first taken on my first night in Kuantan. My nephew Andrew Lim, the only person with a white shirt, happened to be in town from Penang with his cycling Team Veloce. So I took them to the popular Satay Zul corner restaurant in Kuantan. I popped up my camera to take a photo of us and was wondering who could I ask to take a shot of us. I turned to my back to find a friendly looking Malay man sitting at the head of the table and asked if he could snap it for us. I briefly introduced that the group are from Penang taking part in the cycling event happening the next morning. Lo and Behold, he mentioned that he was an official camera man for the event tomorrow and I expressed how appropriate it was for me to ask him to take the photo for us!
This is the Kuantan Century Ride 2015 cycling event of 160km with 1,900 riders! :
There was an official registration ceremony earlier in the afternoon
Here is the program
6am they are up and ready to drive off to the event site.
6.30am they are all set up near the event site
7.00am they are on the queue to start off
7.30am they are starting off on the 160km trail
I met the 3 later who came back, from left to right, my nephew Andrew who clocked an average time of 4hrs 25mins, his younger team mate Han Jin of 16 years of age at 4hrs 38mins and the last rider Andy on the right unfortunately experienced a tire puncture on the back tire to come back very much later.
The entire event was very well managed and used state of art technology. There were online computers connected to sensors placed on the helmet of the riders to be read by scanners when they ride through the starting line as well as when as they pass through the finishing line to automatically produce a ticket above giving relevant information at the end of the race.
By dinner time, we all celebrated with a good dinner for a successful cycle event day, an event that I wasn't aware of earlier but as can be perceived from the photos and coverage writing I've done, everything flowed well.
COINCIDENCES - The Flow begins
Some coincidences began to happen as I started sharing this post on facebook.
My notebook started ringing when I was about to end the night and it was from my schoolmate buddy in Melbourne Australia to share this funny dream he had when he took a short nap in the morning last Thursday. I had reunited with him after we had lost contact with each other for many years as shared in a travelogue post covering my last trip to Melbourne where he now lives with his family.
He had read this post up to the part before I'm writing about coincidences that I feel are beginning to happen above. He told me that in his dream, I showed up on his doorstep riding a bicycle as small as the one his daughter is seen riding above. Apparently it was raining outside and I left the bicycle outside to walk into his home after he opened the door. He picked up the bike to see that the tires were both flat. Then as I walked into the home, I pointed to the back part of my head that I had incurred a small wound but said it was not a problem at all and just ignored it.
We both laughed at the funny dream but I shared some significance of what I felt about the dream. For a start, I do have a scar behind my head that I had received when I fell backwards sitting on a tall chair chatting on the phone when I was a young teenager. It happened under the stair case of our home and my head hit the sharp edge of one of the steps as I fell backwards. It needed several stitches as I was bleeding from the cut on the back of my head. I remember the incident vividly as the next morning I still continued a gruesome bike ride, with another schoolmate who lived closed by, to some fresh water streams that were quite a distance away. It was gruesome as not only was the destination very far away from our home on our small bikes but we were overloaded on our bikes by taking too many cans of food for a planned picnic including a large cake that one of our parents had given to us to bring along!
On the flat tires part, I informed my buddy that I had gone riding in KL recently with his oldest brother who also became my good friend in Australia as my senior studying in the same university I attended. He and my buddy with their other two siblings all live in Melbourne today but this oldest brother has recently started living partly in Kuala Lumpur and invited me out to do a 50km bike ride with him, actually in the same freshwater streams area known as Hulu Langat. We drove our cars to meet there early one morning and he loaned me one of his two super light racing bikes that he had brought along. At the early part of the ride, my front tire had a puncture and went flat. My friend was equipped with a spare tube but found out that he had forgotten to bring along his small air pump after putting in the new tube! We had to get help by asking several passing bikes to find a rider who had brought along an air pump which we finally did but it took some time.
So overall, in as much as his dream was a little far fetched, it did have some truth in it that I had an old wound behind my head and did have a flat tire experience just recently!
Here is a pic in remembrance of the bike ride with my buddy's brother in Hulu Langat, Selangor!
Another coincidence :
http://www.kuantan160.com/v1/ Anyone else I know in Kuantan for this event this weekend?
Posted by Sun Fu Chong on Saturday, June 6, 2015
If you click the comments icon above, you will see that a Wong Yuh Ling added a comment on my post that she is in Kuantan too.
Several other extended family members and friends who also are born in the month of JUNE may have their photos included in this post. Some of them are part of our Supermen group of family members and friends too:
Meanwhile I had noticed my oldest son had just posted a pic in facebook about his Nostalgia of being an active gymnast in his younger days. I immediately left a note on his post that his gym coach, Wong Yuh Ling, and also the coach for all the other boys too including our second daughter Su who liked the post, was in Kuantan at the same time of my visit! What a coincidence!
Here they are, mother and daughter Corey at the Zennith hotel in Kuantan. Corey is now studying in her 4th year of secondary or middle school in St. John's international school, a newly created private school of my alma mater! Nice to run into her again with her mother, remembering that I ran into Corey by chance with Ray our youngest in our trip to Penang hill in Nov 2011 when she was on a school trip seen in the pic below.
Compare Corey in this 2011 pic to the above pic of 2015
A spiritual coincidence too
7th June being on a Sunday is actually the first Sunday of the month and I had planned to be at our Church group meeting in the home of Duncan Horne, the group leader, that usually starts at 9.30am that I've attended every time I am visiting in Kuantan. I had the day before sent out fb and sms messages to check if it would be on as sometimes they may be out of town etc and no meeting may be held. As the cycling event officially starts at 7.30am and the group would rise early to prepare for it, I felt I would be able to follow them to catch the day's excitement with my photo journal on this post and still attend the group church meeting later in the morning.
The first Sunday also meant it would be a fast Sunday as a practice in our world wide church so I planned for the single day fast unlike the 3 day fast I had done in another visit to Kuantan of spiritual significance as recorded on this previous journal post.
As my buddy in Melbourne had called me after midnight and chatted to me about the coincidence of the dream, I stayed up later to get the whole story typed up, on the theme of coincidences that were happening in my 1st day in Kuantan, lest I would forget the details the next day. I further multi tasked to complete other items in my 'things to do list' with the result that it got close to my alarm time to wake me up before 6am to go out with the team who would get ready for the cycle event! I got back after the cyclists had a kick off start at 7.30am to get back about 8am thinking I would take a 45 min cat nap before going for the group meeting. I woke up shocked at 11am to realize that I had over done my cat nap and quickly checked my phone for messages to read the following comments on facebook from Duncan's wife :
What a timely coincidence I felt and knew I was maintaining an optimal flow in Kuantan on this trip even on spiritual matters!
Made this facebook post : A bicycle built for two? Who else will I be entertaining in Kuantan?
Answer?
Here is Siew L Koh and her daughter Jourdyn who are also mutual friends with our gym coach and daughter cited above whom I had met on Monday morning June 8th before they left at 10am and received our next pair of friends at 1pm on the same day!
The tie up of all of us is when our children were involved in gymnastics in their younger days as the above pic depicts. Jourdyn was not in the photo as she was only about one year old plus in 2004 but her two older brothers Jeremy and Jonas are seen as the center two boys in the front from left to right. Our three boys are in the front row too with Shuan 3rd from the left with Ern and Ray 3rd and 2nd from the right respectively.
In 2011, Jourdyn was the little girl, unnamed and unfaced then to protect her identity as she was only 8 years of age then(or 7 turning 8 being in her 2nd year of primary/elementary school) , who was included in my special blog post of coincidences known as the Story of 7.
Coincidental Birthday celebrations - Kicking off the June Babies Birthday list
June 10 is Jourdyn's mom's (Siew L Koh) birthday and it was a delight to have an opportunity to celebrate it with her in Kuantan. Coincidentally someone rang her earlier in the day to wish her and that was how I got to know to arrange a celebration in the evening!
One whose birthday on Malaysian time of June 14 i.e. Fei (in the above pic) in LA which is only on June 13 US time and Ern (in the below pic) being just enlisted into the Singapore army this June 2015 but needs to report back to camp on his birthday on Monday June 16th without being able to go home till the next weekend, it was a puzzle how to find an optimal time when we could have all the family gather together to celebrate both their birthdays on the correct day for them.
The planning of this online celebration was beyond me so it became a coincidental online celebration moment described below :
On the night of June 13, I messaged Ray on facebook to find out if Shuan had returned home knowing that he had just finished his 2 year national service that started in Aug 2013, I was surprised to be told that all 6 of the children were online at that moment on Google+ hangout so I got to join in quickly in their video chats to finally sing the happy birthday song to celebrate early the birthdays of Fei who turns 31 on US time of June 14 and Ern who turns 20 in Spore time of June 16. As Ern had to be back to camp by Sunday night of June 14, having just begun his compulsory National Service in Singapore, it was the most appropriate time to celebrate both their birthdays online together in advance. My timing couldn't be more perfect to join them!
With Fei in Los Angeles in the above clearer photo, Ern is seen in the more blurry pic with his army haircut on the left of Han in the centre and on the right of Han is Shuan who has finished his 2 year army service in Singapore on June 12. Dad in Kuantan is seen in the clearer photo above of Fei on the bottom right with Su in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on the left followed by Ray in Singapore on the left of Su.
Mom is of course in the spirit world and must be watching our internet get-together where she was once an active participant and life of the party!
Listen to the latest family chat online to hear an exciting announcement from Su about a future birthdate! (Postdated event : See https://goo.gl/ksrg5f)
We have fond memories of and convey our Best Wishes of Joy and Happiness to all the June babies named below who celebrate birthdays with our own memories stored at www.familylane.info & (PC view) www.familylane.info/photolinks (Phone view)
Several other extended family members and friends who also are born in the month of JUNE may have their photos included in this post. Some of them are part of our Supermen group of family members and friends too:
Never the less, the full names list of June babies outside of our nuclear family members that we are aware of are as follows :
June 6th is the birthday of Juliana Thong, niece of my wife. June 7th is Steven Kok's birthday who used to work with me in KL as a single and is now happily married in the US as a father of 2 children! June 9th Lim Chong Beng my humble nephew who is our Superman business leader in Penang pictured above and Maggie Ching in Butterworth Penang also born on same day. June 10th our good family friend Siew L. Koh with her photos in Kuantan above. June 11th Rohini Kris, Peter Chen, Tobi Sanders, Calvin Tan Tjin Wei, Daniel Lee and James Blackburn. June 12th Low Swee Joon - wife of Benedict Lee both ex-SJI, Andrew Leong, Jenny Orgill, June 13th Sebastian Toh, my former faithful assistant in Church and at work, Brian Chan, Scott Egbert and Richard Hoy. June 14th Lim Fung Cheer, friend and son of a senior Church member in KL and also Simon Thong, nephew of my wife. June 15th is the birthday of Anil Gohar who learnt about my luck getting an empty car park space in car parks that are full, Kevin Castle, Gavin Ong, Conny Mella Pandey Emes and Kathleen Crump. June 16th is the birthday of Elisha Lim. He and his father has previously worked with our ITC Group of companies in Kuala Lumpur. Others celebrating on this day include Loke King Wai, Harrison Neil and Bryant A. Conners June 17th is KL Toastmaster Daphne Loke's birthday now living in Sydney. Simon Thong's son David and his niece Beverly of the Thong family are June Babies too (June 18 and 24th respectively). June 21st is the birthday of Kaneko Nobuhiro, an MLM leader from Japan with Chelsea Bush Grant, a dear friend of my wife and Isac LeRoy Hare, my son's former mission companion, both from the US celebrating on the same date as well. June 22nd is the birthday of my buddy's son Lim Chen Hong turning 12 in 2015 celebrating his birthday in Melbourne, Australia. June 23rd is Anthony Lim's grand daughter Jaszlyn. June 23rd is also the birthday of Laura Warren, wife of our Singapore Mission President Carl Warren who served together in 1994-97. Another June 23rd baby is from Butterworth Penang, a returned missionary Wendy Ching and also the birthday of Germaine Tan, from our family Church ward in Singapore. June 24th is the birthday of Michael Tamil, my former counselor and later the President of our Church District Presidency in KL. June 25th is the birthday of Mandy Curtis from Ipoh, who became an Aussie with her husband and children in Australia. June 28th are the birthdays of Darren Goh, brother of the twin Goh sisters from Alor Star, and Lily Foo, another distinguished Toastmaster. June 26th Özge Uyar from Turkey. June 29th is the birthday of Ron Williams, founder of Forever Green company from the US, Chong Poh Ling from Toastmasters and Sophie Ting a great lady that I had the chance to share the gospel with and baptize in PJ. Last but not least on June 30th we celebrate the birthday of biker friend Kookkeong Fong and Tan Lian Chin from our ITC Bintang Toastmasters club.
In case some names may be left out, their facebook pics could be seen in the collage below :
June 14 Sunday Church and visit to the International School of Kuantan
I did sleep early the night before so I was on time at the Church group meeting. After Church, Duncan the group leader mentioned his family was going to the Open Day of the International School of Kuantan so I tagged along. I had to take a pic of this one child in our church group before leaving because...?
At the large school hall, there were parents and their children performing on stage with a coloring competition going on for the younger kids of the families. This was where I ran into more coincidences....
Another kid taking part in the coloring competition caught my eye!
The students did some performances on stage. I was impressed by the multi racial and lingual composition of the students here in Kuantan. I interviewed some briefly on video as seen below :
The lead singer in the English Chinese singing group impressed me to have a casual talk with him after. He was later joined by his sister
In our casual chat, I discovered that this sister and two other siblings were delivered by my brother who is an obstetrician/gynecologist in Kuantan. We're now friends in facebook!
Back to the coloring contest
From Birthdays to Father's day in Kuantan on 21 June 2015
Here is wishing all Fathers a HAPPY FATHER'S DAY
Being a Sunday, I was at our Church group meeting again at Horne's Learning Services home.
Entrepreneurial Coincidences :
In this trip to Kuantan, I must say it started with lots of anticipation of inspiring events to occur and half way in the course of this trip, as I am trying to record live as much of the happenings here as possible, I am finding it hard to catch up. I began to realize here in Kuantan, where I first conceived the title of a book I wish to publish i.e. 'What if...', what type of writer I am becoming or have become over my years of writing. I did write a post just last October, during the month of what I call 'October babies' that gave a clue of my style. Today I am able to describe the type of writer I am officially. I am a Contemplative & Critical Thinking writer! (The 2 Cs) Click the links given to see the descriptions given in wikipedia to review for those who know me, if they are accurate descriptions of my character or personality that defines my writing and speaking style too.
Out of a billion over people in facebook, I would coincidentally run into Carlos E. Jean-Gilles early in 2012. He is also a writer and I shared the dedication section of his book in this post.
Back to the coloring contest
Here we see that the parents were supervising their children waiting for the contest to begin.
Here we see Duncan having a discussion with one of the moms squatting down in the contest area while his wife is supervising their girls in the contest area. Duncan had spoken to me earlier that they were less prepared as they weren't aware that parents could bring their own tables for the children to draw on. My quick response was it's okay, his daughter will win with 'hands down', said as a metaphor meaning her hands down on the floor to color.
I had left earlier and was unable to see the progress of the coloring competition but later on facebook I saw Duncan's post on facebook to learn that his daughter had won the grand prize which was an ipad mini and a huge hamper!
I quickly typed my comments below on his facebook post :
Here is wishing all Fathers a HAPPY FATHER'S DAY
Being a Sunday, I was at our Church group meeting again at Horne's Learning Services home.
I took the above photo and posted it on facebook first and as I uploading this to this blog post, I noticed there were 7 comments for me 7 hours after the photo was posted as seen on the above screen captured photo.
One father out of the many fathers I know out in the world today that came to my mind at this time of writing is pictured below. They are a family of 7.
One father out of the many fathers I know out in the world today that came to my mind at this time of writing is pictured below. They are a family of 7.
They are a refugee family living in Kuala Lumpur under the U.N. I got to know as some of the children were attending our Church when I was last in KL. I gave the children a ride home and we talked about many things. The oldest boy Anil, standing at the back in the above photo, asked me what was my name and I enthusiastically said I am Sun Fu, a Chinese name where Sun means mountain and Fu means luck. So I am a Mountain of Luck. Anil Gohar celebrates his birthday this month too on June 15th.
We had just reached the parking lot of their flat and being a Sunday, it was fully full if there was such an expression! I thought I was just going to drop them off but Anil said he wanted me to meet his father so I had to find an empty parking lot. As I was driving slowly, I was impressed to demonstrate why I am Mountain of Luck. I told them that I will soon find an empty parking lot without having to search long for one. Just as I finished saying that, an empty lot showed up about 3 or 4 cars ahead on the left, hidden by a car before it so that I could see the space only when the car approached it closer!
When I walked in to meet the father and chat, soon they brought out some food for me! I realized the son must have communicated to the father secretly by text messaging and they had planned for me to have lunch with them without informing me. I found out that the father was an excellent cook of Nasi Briyani!
On another day I visited them again to give them a number of board games as I found out from the children that they do get bored during the day. So pictured above is when I taught them how to play my game of Chinese checkers, bringing back memories when I was a father with younger children in our home playing board games.
It is worthy to note that in my 2nd trip to the same flat, the children came out to my car to help carry the boxes of games to have observed that a car had pulled out of a parking lot for me when I came! This impressed me to take the photo of this car park to remember this coincidental event again
Continuing the Father's day events in Kuantan :
On early Sunday afternoon Malaysian/Singapore time of 2pm, I got to meet all the children again in our usual Google+ hangout with the 4 boys in Singapore, Su in Pittsburgh at her time of 2am and Fei in Los Angeles at 11pm being still Saturday there. Yes with the 6 children and I, we make up the family of 7 too today!
The Bird Story coincidence
I shared with the children about the coincidence of finding a Bird Story here in Kuantan after experiencing one in Singapore earlier before I left for Kuantan as recorded in this post.
The Bird Story coincidence
I shared with the children about the coincidence of finding a Bird Story here in Kuantan after experiencing one in Singapore earlier before I left for Kuantan as recorded in this post.
The difference of the one here in Kuantan is that the bird's nest was built high on top of a small tree that required a ladder to view the nest. The one in Singapore was built in a potted plant at eye-level found on the 7th floor corridor of a residential HDB flat of Singapore.
So in order to take the above photo, I had to climb up the ladder to find 2 young birdlings in a nest that seemed a bit small for these bigger birdlings when compared to the ones in Singapore.
On the next day it was very windy and there was even a rain storm. When I checked the nest, one bird was at the edge of the nest and fell out of the nest.
It didn't fall all the way to the ground as I found it hanging by the sharp claws of its feet that got caught in a twig of the tree branch. I slowly moved my hands towards it to try to free the birdling but when my hands were close, it moved its left wing as if to block me. I attempted about 2 or 3 times but its wing moved each time my cupped hand got close to it. I kind of talked to the bird to be calm and even said a quick prayer that I could save this bird without resistance from it. This time when I move my cupped left hand to place it under the birdling, there was no resistance. While it was secured by my left cupped hand, my right hand manage to free both of its legs from the branch twigs. It remained very calm as I was doing all this so that I could put it back into the nest
On checking the nest later, the mother bird was seen back in the nest keeping the two birdlings warm. As you can see it is a colorful bird much bigger than the ordinary black sparrows.
I first coined the Bird Story in a spiritual post here that depicts an experience that happened over 30 years ago. It led to a most amazing experience that became my 2nd Bird Story of spiritual significance.
Before nightfall, I made a quick check on the birdlings to find them sitting smartly together and safe. I felt they knew it was Father's day too and have gotten familiar with me as maybe their foster father with the Bird Stories!
Entrepreneurial Coincidences :
In this trip to Kuantan, I must say it started with lots of anticipation of inspiring events to occur and half way in the course of this trip, as I am trying to record live as much of the happenings here as possible, I am finding it hard to catch up. I began to realize here in Kuantan, where I first conceived the title of a book I wish to publish i.e. 'What if...', what type of writer I am becoming or have become over my years of writing. I did write a post just last October, during the month of what I call 'October babies' that gave a clue of my style. Today I am able to describe the type of writer I am officially. I am a Contemplative & Critical Thinking writer! (The 2 Cs) Click the links given to see the descriptions given in wikipedia to review for those who know me, if they are accurate descriptions of my character or personality that defines my writing and speaking style too.
Out of a billion over people in facebook, I would coincidentally run into Carlos E. Jean-Gilles early in 2012. He is also a writer and I shared the dedication section of his book in this post.
To be continued.... stopped on June 17 Malaysia/Singapore time
...continued at 7am plus the next day!
This break is more significantly pointed out on this blog post that has somewhat been made into a live-recording post of anticipated events while here in Kuantan on this trip. Why so? Let me expain. My need to explain things is the part coming from my Critical Thinking self that always triggers to answer these questions :
Some coincidences occurred when I randomly googled the the topic of critical thinking as the above webpage was found. I discovered that the webpage was owned by a Malaysian named Rasmi Md Desa. I found him on facebook and made a friend request to him.
I have asked these questions of Carlos E. Jean-Gilles and the things he had shared with me since we first started our written conversations on facebook (• Conversation started January 10, 2013 ) The date is traced back by searching the history provided in facebook. I am fully satisfied with the answers I discovered with respect to who, what, where, when, why, how up to this date of writing, especially when he recently invited me to be his co-founder of a business entity that will have a life changing impact to the world!
Then there is my Contemplative self to understand the coincidences that have been happening to us, in terms of our similar interests, passion and past experiences which made me use my 'multi-sensory' optimal state as shared in My Heart and Mind website.
...continued at 7am plus the next day!
This break is more significantly pointed out on this blog post that has somewhat been made into a live-recording post of anticipated events while here in Kuantan on this trip. Why so? Let me expain. My need to explain things is the part coming from my Critical Thinking self that always triggers to answer these questions :
Some coincidences occurred when I randomly googled the the topic of critical thinking as the above webpage was found. I discovered that the webpage was owned by a Malaysian named Rasmi Md Desa. I found him on facebook and made a friend request to him.
A nurse from Tung Shin hospital, the hospital where my father died in, accepted my invitation to visit Kuantan. I had shared this blog post with her and she informed me that Critical Thinking was part of her course in nursing. She is a Sino-Kadazan from Sabah qualified as a nurse there and was offered a post basic course in the hospital she works in currently, which is in the field of my gynecologist brother.
I have asked these questions of Carlos E. Jean-Gilles and the things he had shared with me since we first started our written conversations on facebook (• Conversation started January 10, 2013 ) The date is traced back by searching the history provided in facebook. I am fully satisfied with the answers I discovered with respect to who, what, where, when, why, how up to this date of writing, especially when he recently invited me to be his co-founder of a business entity that will have a life changing impact to the world!
Then there is my Contemplative self to understand the coincidences that have been happening to us, in terms of our similar interests, passion and past experiences which made me use my 'multi-sensory' optimal state as shared in My Heart and Mind website.
Click here to view the cover page and click 'Next' at the bottom of the page to continue to the next page. (Note that 'My Heart and Mind' webpages have not been converted to be mobile friendly yet and is best viewed only on larger screens like on PCs, notebooks and iPads.)
The optimal state of my Heart and Mind allowed me to appreciate the Character and Competency (The 2Cs again!) of Carlos. Wow I am getting some vibes here now on tying up or relating My Heart and Mind with first being a Contemplative and Critical Thinking writer to talking about my discovery of the Character and Competency of my new found friend and business partner. Do you see the link i.e. metaphorically speaking, the Heart makes a person Contemplative or soul seeking in my opinion, and is the basis of determining Character while the Mind as I see it is the source of Critical Thinking and when mastered makes a person become more Competent in his work.
Something else struck me as I reviewed the pages of My Heart and Mind website that if you check on the link address of each page is not properly numbered. This special website written with both Contemplative and Critical Thinking processes has not been updated with any new pages for quite a while now. Somehow I felt it was sufficient or comprehensive enough for anyone reading it to know of My Heart and Mind which I was specifically sharing as a synopsis of all my blog pages that may have been merely the ramblings of my Heart and Mind in a disorganized fashion. So with excitement I started to meticulously count the exact number of pages on the website. Lo and behold it turned out to be a total of 7 thus qualifying the coincidence to be shared in my continuing Story of 7 blog post!
See besides knowing Carlos first as the proven tech guru of Facebook with his record of achieving the highest number of facebook questions answered in a volunteer support role, soon I discovered that he was also an aspiring writer. He shared some of his personal stories like this one which gave me a a good idea of the man whom I've never met but have become close to due to the sharing of our writings with each other! Later he started to share with me the business plan he has been working on for the past 7 years stating that he fully trusted me to share it with me. Recently he invited me to be the co-founder with him of the new company, I am to be the Chief Operating Officer COO of the company while he will be the Chief Executive Officer CEO.
It was before this trip to Kuantan that the invitation was given. I felt it was an appropriate timing as he had been sending me consistently much information of the business model he had been working on and I needed to collate and digest it all to get the knowledge and vision as close as his in order to be able to fulfill my role as his partner. Coming to Kuantan I felt was the ideal place to get my juices flowing so that I could apply my contemplative and critical thinking skills to digest all the information given to me and begin to work on achieving an optimal business plan together with Carlos.We have been so far having our discussions online. We have already decided the best time for me to meet with him in the US to legalize the company's incorporation and opening of bank accounts with our presence and work on any other matters required in the pre-operating stage of the business.The CEO has promised that our company was going to be as transparent as possible and you can read from the information he has released in an Office Circular as provided for by the Security and Exchange Commission, pursuant to Regulation A+. You need to be logged into facebook to view his statement of transparency by clicking here.
The optimal state of my Heart and Mind allowed me to appreciate the Character and Competency (The 2Cs again!) of Carlos. Wow I am getting some vibes here now on tying up or relating My Heart and Mind with first being a Contemplative and Critical Thinking writer to talking about my discovery of the Character and Competency of my new found friend and business partner. Do you see the link i.e. metaphorically speaking, the Heart makes a person Contemplative or soul seeking in my opinion, and is the basis of determining Character while the Mind as I see it is the source of Critical Thinking and when mastered makes a person become more Competent in his work.
Something else struck me as I reviewed the pages of My Heart and Mind website that if you check on the link address of each page is not properly numbered. This special website written with both Contemplative and Critical Thinking processes has not been updated with any new pages for quite a while now. Somehow I felt it was sufficient or comprehensive enough for anyone reading it to know of My Heart and Mind which I was specifically sharing as a synopsis of all my blog pages that may have been merely the ramblings of my Heart and Mind in a disorganized fashion. So with excitement I started to meticulously count the exact number of pages on the website. Lo and behold it turned out to be a total of 7 thus qualifying the coincidence to be shared in my continuing Story of 7 blog post!
See besides knowing Carlos first as the proven tech guru of Facebook with his record of achieving the highest number of facebook questions answered in a volunteer support role, soon I discovered that he was also an aspiring writer. He shared some of his personal stories like this one which gave me a a good idea of the man whom I've never met but have become close to due to the sharing of our writings with each other! Later he started to share with me the business plan he has been working on for the past 7 years stating that he fully trusted me to share it with me. Recently he invited me to be the co-founder with him of the new company, I am to be the Chief Operating Officer COO of the company while he will be the Chief Executive Officer CEO.
It was before this trip to Kuantan that the invitation was given. I felt it was an appropriate timing as he had been sending me consistently much information of the business model he had been working on and I needed to collate and digest it all to get the knowledge and vision as close as his in order to be able to fulfill my role as his partner. Coming to Kuantan I felt was the ideal place to get my juices flowing so that I could apply my contemplative and critical thinking skills to digest all the information given to me and begin to work on achieving an optimal business plan together with Carlos.We have been so far having our discussions online. We have already decided the best time for me to meet with him in the US to legalize the company's incorporation and opening of bank accounts with our presence and work on any other matters required in the pre-operating stage of the business.The CEO has promised that our company was going to be as transparent as possible and you can read from the information he has released in an Office Circular as provided for by the Security and Exchange Commission, pursuant to Regulation A+. You need to be logged into facebook to view his statement of transparency by clicking here.
Once you are logged into facebook, you can click the link given in his comments to read the OFFERING CIRCULAR of our company Group Emporium Corp.
As I contemplate this opportunity before me, thanks to the offer made to me by Carlos who said he did it after talking to his wife, many things rush through my mind that I can simply summarize from the years of contemplative writing listed in the following points with a link given to the relevant written blog post :
1) My actions since I started engaging in the business world as an independent entrepreneur in my 20s, as expressed in my unique resume, has prepared me for this opportunity
2) My time spent in raising a family and preparing the next generation for a fast changing world taught me how to contribute in making this world a better place starting from the home itself.
3) My experience in the spiritual dimension has always given me tremendous energy of love, hope and willingness to sacrifice to help others become better and truly happier people.
In short, I feel I have the experience for it, the passion for it and a vision big enough to catch up with Carlos to become a key implementer of what he has worked on for 7 years.
I had to critically think of several key areas to ask the relevant questions necessary to know if the venture can be successful such as the timing of it, the resources we have available and the demand out in the market place for what we will be building.
1) The timing. E-commerce had been talked about for a long time and the timing seems ripe to create big names in the industry like Amazon, E-Bay and lately Alibaba with its staggering initial public offering of $25 billion that shattered all records and became the largest IPO ever.
2) The resources. The technology has advanced to such a state today that changes the game of business today with intrusion into families and their lifestyles. Investors are looking for companies that lead in the creation and implementation of technology. The next generation of smart kids are available to supply the geek workers for visionary ventures.
3) The demand. The world has become more and more flat. From the fall of communism, to the digitization of information made readily available to all people across the world and today's airline slogans saying, "Now Everyone Can Fly" makes it very believable indeed. The rapidly increasing interest and importance of social media throughout the world is evidence of a great demand out there for a fresh approach to all we do in society i.e. in the way we do business, in the way we educate and learn or even the way how leaders should govern a country. This demand will ever be increasing beyond my life time.
In short, I know that it is timely to implement what Carlos has worked on for the past 7 years. I am not concerned about a lack of resources to carry it through to fruition as there is no lack of it. With all the preparation behind us, we are unlikely to make the mistake of climbing up the wrong tree to get the right fruits. We can only make the mistake of not satisfying the demand of what the world wants if we don't begin soon enough to turn our experience and vision to create a real world-wide company that would optimally fulfill the educational, economical and emotional needs of real people out there.
After I finished typing the draft of the last section above, it was dinner time on Father's day to eat and simultaneously watch a live tele-cast of the finals between Roger Federer and Andreas Seppi in the Halle Open tennis championship of 2015. The game reminds me that winning is by pure skill or optimal performance and perhaps some luck too at times. Just look at this short video that highlights the skills of Roger Federer in his return shots of previous games to know why he is a winner.
More spiritual experiences to follow
As I contemplate this opportunity before me, thanks to the offer made to me by Carlos who said he did it after talking to his wife, many things rush through my mind that I can simply summarize from the years of contemplative writing listed in the following points with a link given to the relevant written blog post :
1) My actions since I started engaging in the business world as an independent entrepreneur in my 20s, as expressed in my unique resume, has prepared me for this opportunity
2) My time spent in raising a family and preparing the next generation for a fast changing world taught me how to contribute in making this world a better place starting from the home itself.
3) My experience in the spiritual dimension has always given me tremendous energy of love, hope and willingness to sacrifice to help others become better and truly happier people.
In short, I feel I have the experience for it, the passion for it and a vision big enough to catch up with Carlos to become a key implementer of what he has worked on for 7 years.
1) The timing. E-commerce had been talked about for a long time and the timing seems ripe to create big names in the industry like Amazon, E-Bay and lately Alibaba with its staggering initial public offering of $25 billion that shattered all records and became the largest IPO ever.
2) The resources. The technology has advanced to such a state today that changes the game of business today with intrusion into families and their lifestyles. Investors are looking for companies that lead in the creation and implementation of technology. The next generation of smart kids are available to supply the geek workers for visionary ventures.
3) The demand. The world has become more and more flat. From the fall of communism, to the digitization of information made readily available to all people across the world and today's airline slogans saying, "Now Everyone Can Fly" makes it very believable indeed. The rapidly increasing interest and importance of social media throughout the world is evidence of a great demand out there for a fresh approach to all we do in society i.e. in the way we do business, in the way we educate and learn or even the way how leaders should govern a country. This demand will ever be increasing beyond my life time.
In short, I know that it is timely to implement what Carlos has worked on for the past 7 years. I am not concerned about a lack of resources to carry it through to fruition as there is no lack of it. With all the preparation behind us, we are unlikely to make the mistake of climbing up the wrong tree to get the right fruits. We can only make the mistake of not satisfying the demand of what the world wants if we don't begin soon enough to turn our experience and vision to create a real world-wide company that would optimally fulfill the educational, economical and emotional needs of real people out there.
Interesting to note that Roger Federer at the start of the game had a record of winning this tournament previously for the 7th time and went to finish the game as champion for the 8th. He is also the 17-times grand slam winner!
I am further charged-up by this game to know I can help Carlos win our world championship entrepreneurial contest that we are entering together. He definitely has multiple skills for it especially in the field of social media and mine to match with my achievements reported by public media but I am hanging on to his tail as he moves with speed so that I can measure up to his exacting standards that I am aware of. If required, I know I can surely increase the lucky component factor for us to win but my philosophy in life has always been the harder we work, the luckier we get!
Here is a funny coincidence. I had just typed my philosophy on luck above and went to check my Google+ page to find that Ameer Rosic, an online coach whom I had met and chatted with on Skype and Zoom not too long ago posted his video below about luck I've embedded below.
I am further charged-up by this game to know I can help Carlos win our world championship entrepreneurial contest that we are entering together. He definitely has multiple skills for it especially in the field of social media and mine to match with my achievements reported by public media but I am hanging on to his tail as he moves with speed so that I can measure up to his exacting standards that I am aware of. If required, I know I can surely increase the lucky component factor for us to win but my philosophy in life has always been the harder we work, the luckier we get!
Here is a funny coincidence. I had just typed my philosophy on luck above and went to check my Google+ page to find that Ameer Rosic, an online coach whom I had met and chatted with on Skype and Zoom not too long ago posted his video below about luck I've embedded below.
He even used the same quote of my philosophy in life about luck! Ameer has a great program and I believe our paths may cross again as he is in Canada and we will have an office set up there.
The reason why I went to check out my Google+ page was to see what is the latest number of views of my profile and contents, at this time of writing, and here is the screen capture photo of what I saw below. It is my Google+ banner created from a photo of me captured in Kuantan that faces the South China Sea as seen in the bluish background.
(One can click here to see the latest number of views at any time.)
The red arrow I used to point to the figure shows it as 926,935 views. Note that these values are approximate according to Google. I was checking to see if I would surpass the 1 million mark yet which should happen soon. Here is something interesting. With anticipation, I added the figures 9+2+6+9+3+5 = 34. Further addition of 3+4 = 7. Just as I anticipated!
Is it LUCK again from my 'Mountain of Luck' given name that brought about the number 7 figure? One thing I know for sure that wasn't luck is that I had worked very hard to write my blog posts consistently since I started my first blog post here. Another coincidence related to the Bird Stories of my life is that if you click my first blog post link given earlier or scroll to the top of this blog post, the header of my blog design actually has silhouette of a flock of birds on the top right that I never saw the significance of till now.
Coincidences of meeting more friends with common grounds to collaborate in business
One would think that I can be relaxing all day in the more idyllic city of Kuantan away from all the people seeking to find me. However with popular Social Media Apps like Facebook, Linkedin, Google+ and phone communication apps like Messengers, WhatsApp, Weechat, Skype and not forgetting emails, SMSes and the regular phone apparatus, more coincidental meetings occur.
For example, there is my old friend Bob from Singapore who did his doctorate in Harvard, a very smart entrepreneur indeed. He invented abKey and has set up an office in London UK and have been staying in China too. He happened to be in KL to want to meet me but I was in Kuantan. He had to rush back to Singapore for appointments and could not come to Kuantan so I quoted the saying to him, 'If the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain'! I therefore went to KL to meet him and his wife. It couldn't be timelier as after I shared our international business plan with him and my meeting with Carlos in US in August, he mentioned that he will be in US at that time too so would be possible to join us. I related this to Carlos who said we should appoint him on our board of directors where he could focus on Europe while Carlos covers both North and South America and I in Asia!
Out of the blue I have another friend Alvin, one of the two top programmers in the country whom I personally know closely with IQ of at least 170, also sent me a WhatsApp message that he wanted to meet with me about initiating a business model to do a global business. I've invited him and his family to come visit me in Kuantan. Here are some pics of our work and play activities :
As I had my Kuantan brother's iPad to check out at the KL store where I had it purchased from, I felt impressed to make another quick trip of a day or two to KL and return with his iPad as well as to continue my coaching session of the IT world with him. The coaching had begun awhile back prompted by a mother's day discussion on 12 May 2013 with a follow up purchase of an iPad for him on 25th May 2013.
Since I've been criss-crossing between KL and Kuantan, I was impressed to make a social house call to visit a good friend Rozzana from our Alma Mater who lives in the cool hills off the highway as we go through the Genting Highlands pass.
Here she is seen relaxed in her nature friendly home and in the course of catching up with each other, she expressed her desire to seek my help in a new venture that would involve the need for web presence and E-commerce. It was as if she knew I was dropping by that day but it was a totally unexpected visit to her home by me or her!
It is about living a healthy life and I was impressed that even strawberries grow in her balcony garden!
Back to KL for a few days and sighted Bird Coincidences again!
With fast wifi connection, I have a streaming TV to access hundreds of channels throughout the world. When I am out of town I will switch off everything so my routine upon arrival is turn on everything and on the streaming TV to make sure everything is connected and working well. Lo and behold, the channel last watched being the HBO family channel was screening a talking parrot show named Paulie!!! I couldn't believe my eyes! Was I getting obsessed with birds in my life?
Then I wanted to watch the latest Minions movie in town and chose the 3D movie near my apartment in Times Square KL to view it.
I couldn't believe my eyes to catch this bird scene quickly when the Minions was scaling up the Palace wall in London! Hmmm... now who is based in London that I know?
Before I left Kuantan for this short trip to Kuala Lumpur, I used my camera to zoom up the tree to see if there was any activity in the birds nest I have been observing. Wow I saw the big colorful mother bird on the nest with one of the birdlings, most likely the bigger one that fell out of the nest which I had saved, already perched on a branch under the watchful of its mother. I whistled to make some bird sounds and if you watch the video closely, you can see the little birdie responding to my whistles in the movement of its head.
More Stories of 7
One morning, I saw that my US business partner Carlos E. Jean Gilles whom I call the tech guru of facebook had sent some messages to me. He had earlier invited me to be his Co-Founder of Group Emporium Corp. with the appointment as COO of the company.
His message in facebook as can be read on my screen shot was an instruction to change my official title in my Linked profile to be the COO of Group Emporium Corp. Seeing his activity in Linkedin, I could tell he will soon be a guru there too.
Interesting to note that his messages and my notifications on that morning on the multiple screens I was using in facebook show the number 7 in red! I told him that morning, before I read his instructions, that I was inspired to write a poem, which I've never done before, about Birds. Here it is with links to 7 bird stories that I can recall in my life so far.
You can click the icon below to view my latest profile in Linkedin
So I came back from KL to Kuantan and followed up with some unfinished business here primarily to continue the IT coaching sessions with my brother as mentioned above. Soon my sister-in-law was showing interest too and so I spent time with her as well. Now I knew their internet at home was too slow. I pointed out to my brother before I left for the short trip to KL that besides the iPad he got as a starter kit to learn the latest technology as per my recommendation, he had to upgrade his slower 'streamyx' internet connection to a faster telecom 'unifi' package. He took note of this and said he would inform his personal assistant. Next day or two I asked him if he followed up with it but he didn't as he got too busy and immediately he called the PA again to instruct her to proceed.
All the while, I had overcome the slower wifi connection in his home with my own faster mobile Celcom connection to do my online work. As it is a post paid billing account that had only 5G capacity, it would run out when I spent extended time in Kuantan doing my work. Also I had coached the house maid how to use her Android phone also and as she down loaded or up loaded more pics and videos using WhatsApp and Facebook, my mobile wifi ran out of capacity quicker too as she had asked for my password to use my faster internet connection! It would not stop working when the 5G capacity is exceeded but it would throttle down the speed to a level where it would be crawling to surf the net or download/upload any files etc to allow messaging only to be done! It isn't a big problem as I just had the small inconvenience to call up Celcom to add another 5G at RM50 each time. 5G a month was usually adequate for me each month as both my home base in Singapore and KL has fast internet connections for me to work on and the mobile wifi was adequate to cover my short trips around Malaysia when I do make them.
On Sunday night, after some time over the weekend entertaining a family from KL whom I had invited, I followed up with my brother with a short coaching session. Things were going well and since I didn't hear any feedback from him or his personal assistant on the upgrade of the wifi system at home, I told him I would follow up the next day, Monday, with Telecoms or Telekoms in Malaysia. I also added that I would look for a new notebook for him as since he has made progress with his iPad, it's time to use a serious computer and really make full use of the power of IT today as I have been doing since I started the IT business in the 80s!
On Monday morning I spent time with his wife to answer her questions on using the old notebook they had in their room. Then she got me to assemble together a new juicer before lunch that cost RM3,000 telling me that I could do it after lunch. Well when she came back down from her room and saw me eating, she was surprised to see that the juicer was all assembled together already ready to be tested or used after lunch! Then I informed her that I was going out to town to look for that new notebook for them, which I did costing RM1,950, an HP Pavilion notebook featuring the AMD A10 processor with a 15.6" HD(LED) wide screen, 2 Terra byte hard disk, 4GB ram with free original Windows 8 etc! I did ask the vendor about UNIFI availability in Kuantan and he seemed doubtful if it was available in the city. He did confirm though that the streamyx could support up to 4G speed but agreed with me that UNIFI would still be much faster. With hope and energy I drove quickly to the Telekom office to enquire about the fast UNIFI for myself. In fact I had check with 2 vendors as I was shopping for a good deal for the computer as well as to ask about UNIFI and all were doubtful about it or didn't really know.
When I was sitting in front of the customer service desk of TM point, the outlet of Telekoms that handles applications for all installations, the officer himself was doubtful if Telekoms had launched any UNIFI in Kuantan yet as it seems the progression comes from up north in the oil town of Kerteh down to Berserah before reaching Kuantan town. Well I told him to check his computer terminal and gave him the exact address of the residence. Lo and behold, he gave me a printout that is extracted below :
He was surprised himself and circled the above number 7 to say that 7 ports were available in our area but nobody seems to have applied for any of them!
So I drove home happy to report to my sister-in-law. She was playing mahjong with her friends and I came in with a loud greeting in Hokkien, "Oo Hock Ah!" meaning "There's Luck!", feeling it appropriate since it was a game of risk they were playing! hahaha She asked me why and I showed her the printout and shared in brief that since no one booked any of the 7 ports made available from since when I do not know, we can go tomorrow and immediately book one of them as the phone line was in her name and she needed to be there to sign the application form!
The next morning my sister-in-law and I was at the TM point outlet again and got all the paperwork done to expect installation in 3 or 4 working days later. Next was to the computer shop to pick up the new HP Pavilion notebook. Here is where the 'Story of 7' type incident occurred again. The computer shop was beside the large Mega Mall shopping complex and my sister-law being the driver decided to try luck for a parking lot beside the mall where the computer shop was rather than driving up the multi-story carpark. All the side parking lots by the road around the mall were full!
My feelings and thoughts after all the above coincidental experiences are consistent with all my experiences of the past about success and being an entrepreneur. One never knows what the future is but if you don't work on it or even run for it when others are throwing doubts at you, you will never achieve anything let alone the wish of being lucky. Indeed, my belief still holds that THE HARDER YOU WORK, THE LUCKIER YOU GET!
A sideline to my story of how I spent 2 hours in an afternoon to get something done quickly as a habit of my life, I stopped by the 'Popular Bookstore'. This is a successful bookstore chain in Malaysia, and another habit of mine is to scan a bookstore and see if anything attracts me. I had already brought enough books for my reading or rereading in Kuantan but this one was in Bahasa Malaysia and I am always interested to practice my languages. The title also seemed interesting, Trust No One, so I bought it.
All the while, I had overcome the slower wifi connection in his home with my own faster mobile Celcom connection to do my online work. As it is a post paid billing account that had only 5G capacity, it would run out when I spent extended time in Kuantan doing my work. Also I had coached the house maid how to use her Android phone also and as she down loaded or up loaded more pics and videos using WhatsApp and Facebook, my mobile wifi ran out of capacity quicker too as she had asked for my password to use my faster internet connection! It would not stop working when the 5G capacity is exceeded but it would throttle down the speed to a level where it would be crawling to surf the net or download/upload any files etc to allow messaging only to be done! It isn't a big problem as I just had the small inconvenience to call up Celcom to add another 5G at RM50 each time. 5G a month was usually adequate for me each month as both my home base in Singapore and KL has fast internet connections for me to work on and the mobile wifi was adequate to cover my short trips around Malaysia when I do make them.
On Sunday night, after some time over the weekend entertaining a family from KL whom I had invited, I followed up with my brother with a short coaching session. Things were going well and since I didn't hear any feedback from him or his personal assistant on the upgrade of the wifi system at home, I told him I would follow up the next day, Monday, with Telecoms or Telekoms in Malaysia. I also added that I would look for a new notebook for him as since he has made progress with his iPad, it's time to use a serious computer and really make full use of the power of IT today as I have been doing since I started the IT business in the 80s!
On Monday morning I spent time with his wife to answer her questions on using the old notebook they had in their room. Then she got me to assemble together a new juicer before lunch that cost RM3,000 telling me that I could do it after lunch. Well when she came back down from her room and saw me eating, she was surprised to see that the juicer was all assembled together already ready to be tested or used after lunch! Then I informed her that I was going out to town to look for that new notebook for them, which I did costing RM1,950, an HP Pavilion notebook featuring the AMD A10 processor with a 15.6" HD(LED) wide screen, 2 Terra byte hard disk, 4GB ram with free original Windows 8 etc! I did ask the vendor about UNIFI availability in Kuantan and he seemed doubtful if it was available in the city. He did confirm though that the streamyx could support up to 4G speed but agreed with me that UNIFI would still be much faster. With hope and energy I drove quickly to the Telekom office to enquire about the fast UNIFI for myself. In fact I had check with 2 vendors as I was shopping for a good deal for the computer as well as to ask about UNIFI and all were doubtful about it or didn't really know.
When I was sitting in front of the customer service desk of TM point, the outlet of Telekoms that handles applications for all installations, the officer himself was doubtful if Telekoms had launched any UNIFI in Kuantan yet as it seems the progression comes from up north in the oil town of Kerteh down to Berserah before reaching Kuantan town. Well I told him to check his computer terminal and gave him the exact address of the residence. Lo and behold, he gave me a printout that is extracted below :
So I drove home happy to report to my sister-in-law. She was playing mahjong with her friends and I came in with a loud greeting in Hokkien, "Oo Hock Ah!" meaning "There's Luck!", feeling it appropriate since it was a game of risk they were playing! hahaha She asked me why and I showed her the printout and shared in brief that since no one booked any of the 7 ports made available from since when I do not know, we can go tomorrow and immediately book one of them as the phone line was in her name and she needed to be there to sign the application form!
The next morning my sister-in-law and I was at the TM point outlet again and got all the paperwork done to expect installation in 3 or 4 working days later. Next was to the computer shop to pick up the new HP Pavilion notebook. Here is where the 'Story of 7' type incident occurred again. The computer shop was beside the large Mega Mall shopping complex and my sister-law being the driver decided to try luck for a parking lot beside the mall where the computer shop was rather than driving up the multi-story carpark. All the side parking lots by the road around the mall were full!
The computer shop is just past the lamp post in the front on the left and as we came to this spot, we saw a lady coming out from the right of the mall to walk towards her car parked on the spacious lot seen on the left of the photo above.
My feelings and thoughts after all the above coincidental experiences are consistent with all my experiences of the past about success and being an entrepreneur. One never knows what the future is but if you don't work on it or even run for it when others are throwing doubts at you, you will never achieve anything let alone the wish of being lucky. Indeed, my belief still holds that THE HARDER YOU WORK, THE LUCKIER YOU GET!
A sideline to my story of how I spent 2 hours in an afternoon to get something done quickly as a habit of my life, I stopped by the 'Popular Bookstore'. This is a successful bookstore chain in Malaysia, and another habit of mine is to scan a bookstore and see if anything attracts me. I had already brought enough books for my reading or rereading in Kuantan but this one was in Bahasa Malaysia and I am always interested to practice my languages. The title also seemed interesting, Trust No One, so I bought it.
I googled and found there was a video of the author speaking in Malaysia and added it below before even I have reviewed it myself. Guess I work at a speed ahead of myself sometimes haha
Interesting that the book is divided into 3 divisions with the following titles in Malay which is translated where necessary :
1. MH370 (The MAS plane that disappeared without a trace covered in my previous journal post.)
2. Tuhan Ampuni Kami (God forgive us)
3. Holocaust Zaman Moden (Modern-day Holocaust)
It is basically all about conspiracy theories of the world and it is interesting to have a caucasian writer living in our midst in Malaysia who speaks the Malay language of the majority of Muslims to share his theories in public speeches and books in the Malay language, who is also a Muslim himself!
It is basically all about conspiracy theories of the world and it is interesting to have a caucasian writer living in our midst in Malaysia who speaks the Malay language of the majority of Muslims to share his theories in public speeches and books in the Malay language, who is also a Muslim himself!
More spiritual experiences to follow
1 July, Month 7 of the year!
I woke up early about 3am to wonder why so early when my alarm clock was set at 8am. My only consciousness was to know that it was the first day of the 7th month of the year and wanted to update my June's babies list of birthdays to add those I had just discovered who have birthdays in June. I do the same for the months of November and December as these are the 3 months of the year where all the children's fall on. As we celebrate the birthdays of our children, it was always nice to include those birthdays of our extended family members and friends as well to be thought of and wished in my blog post.
Then a facebook post of our oldest daughter who was born in June caught my attention.
I woke up early about 3am to wonder why so early when my alarm clock was set at 8am. My only consciousness was to know that it was the first day of the 7th month of the year and wanted to update my June's babies list of birthdays to add those I had just discovered who have birthdays in June. I do the same for the months of November and December as these are the 3 months of the year where all the children's fall on. As we celebrate the birthdays of our children, it was always nice to include those birthdays of our extended family members and friends as well to be thought of and wished in my blog post.
Then a facebook post of our oldest daughter who was born in June caught my attention.
Pieces of a beautiful song I once sang in an interfaith choir has been calling to me lately. I found this beautiful...
Posted by Fei Wyatt on Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Reading the 1st comment by her mom-in-law, "What a poignant message, especially at this time" made me wonder what is that time she was referring to?"
Then I came across a facebook group post by Carlos, Founder and CEO of Group Emporium Corp. It was a lengthy deep article written by him but it captivated my attention to read it to the end. You can access it here with a facebook account to read it for yourself which carries the title below :
(Post-dated event Jan 16 2017: Carlos had terminated his facebook account and the same article can now be read in his LinkedIn account here. An explanation for why he would delete his facebook account for good is can be found in detail here. With this deletion, note that any links that connect to his facebook account in this journal post will no longer be accessible.)
"LOVE, COMPASSION, JUSTICE AND TRUTH ARE ABOVE ALL RELIGIONS!"
I will attempt to critique his article, like the way he does with other current writers that I am aware of such as Robert Bach, the author of Jonathan Livingstone Seagull. Here goes...
Knowing Carlos and his style of writing, he knows how to capture the attention of readers with strong words like in his first line, "As of today, I vow to never step foot in a Catholic Church again until its leaders remove the ludicrous proposition that the bible is the word of God." It is a very bold statement almost as if he is denying God and the scriptures, in this case the Bible as a word of God.
Then he quickly follows up with a very logical statement, showing no disrespect of God but a believe that God expects us to use our intelligence or gifts given to us, "I am a scientist at heart. And I proudly stand with Galileo as I proclaim my own personal creed, "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” Galileo Galilei."
Another strength of Carlos as a writer is his vocabulary of words as he uses the word telesthesia to describe a form of communication that one can acquire with practice suggesting that a perfect God uses it as a more perfect language which Man will struggle trying to acquire it. Carlos ascribes the difficulty of learning it to... in his own words, "The problem with telesthesia is that only God knows that language perfectly. And when we communicate to our Maker through that language, we often don't quite get it right."
He therefore cites the obvious problem of miscommunication in this world either between Man and Man or God with Man, "It amazes me sometimes when people read my writings and arrive at totally different conclusions that I never intended. So it happens with any communication with God through telesthesia. Regardless how clearly I try to communicate with my readers, misinterpretations or errors will happen because none of us is perfect. In a similar way, my communication with my Maker through telesthesia is not perfect although His mastery of telesthesia is perfect." (Grammatical check : 'None of us is perfect or None of us are perfect')
Using his 'scientist at heart' nature and strong intellectual mind, he spends time to write another 4 paragraphs to lead to this strong stance, "So, I'm tired of repeating the aberration that the bible is the word of God when both in my heart and in my mind I know for a fact that's a blatant lie that was designed by white men to justify their delusional superiority over other races. From henceforth, I absolutely refuse to utter the words, "The Word of God," in my association with any organized religion when I know for a fact that there are many ideas in the bible that had absolutely nothing to do with God."
Many paragraphs follow until the end where he made more bold declarations to conclude. His whole article is well structured to sandwich many clear convincing explanations in between two strong top and bottom layers of his well crafted attention getting words from his heart. He introduced his well substantiated contents simply with this two lines, "Despite my differences with the Catholic Church, I still consider myself a Christian. And here's why!" (Typographically error on one paragraph starting with this line, "Regardless what our DNA is, the only way to write wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them,". The word 'write' may have been intended to be 'right'.)
He began with a bold statement, he concluded his writings consistently with a bold conclusion, "What I'm saying here is that the Catholic Church itself has become an impediment towards our quest for truth with its absurd sophism that the bible is the word of God. It may be right on many other things, but one should question whether the good things that it does outweigh the negative consequences of its ubiquitous indiscretions.
And if my reader is still in denial about the church's propensity for ubiquitous indiscretions, think about how they protected the priests who abused innocent children? It was okay for those priests who committed these atrocious acts to be resume their practices but it's not okay for homosexuals to engage in sexual acts between consenting adults. There's simply no way that my heart could possibly condone that huge hypocrisy.
Think about their senseless crusade wars? Think about their participation in the Inquisition? Think of indulgences? Think about how they seldom say a word about racism so as not to upset the very same racist people who contribute every Sunday to heir offerings? (Typographically error on heir which should be 'their'.) The Catholic Church is morally bankrupt. It should file for moral bankruptcy in order to start fresh with the truth instead of drivels. Yet it insists on trying to pass itself for the cradle of morality. I wish all Catholics the best of luck, but please, please don't confuse me with a "devout imbecile," who is ready to swallow hook and sinker the crumbs that his or her masters are willing to dangle in front of his or her mesmerized eyes.
I'm all for forgiveness and redemption. But I'll take my chances before my own Maker instead of relying on the intercession of any church's absolution. As far as I'm concerned, the Catholic Church's intercession isn't worth the price of the paper its influence is written upon. In sum, let it be known to all men and women that I excommunicate myself from the Catholic Church and I hereby express without reservation whatsoever that I never recognized its authority over me and never will I recognize its authority over me from now on and forevermore."
One can conclude that Carlos writes with a very critical thinking mind, sparring no harsh words, the trait of a lawyer's mind who can lead the reader/listener to feel the emotions that he feels and the impetus to initiate a change of mindset.
END OF CRITIQUE
If you haven't read his full article yet, you can read it now by clicking here. My critique of his article, after receiving his approval to reproduce it due to his clear copyright notice, is based purely on his style of writing. with some grammatical comments leaving out commentary on the contents of his article. I prefer to do the commentary on the subject contents of his article at the end of this section of the post as I have to write it not just with my mindful self alone as I did in the above critique, I have to use my whole optimal self using my Body Mind and Spirit. It will done at the end of this section of the post.
After I read his article briefly for the first time, it was clearer to me that what was intended for me to contemplate early this morning stemmed from the news of the US Supreme Court Ruling that Makes Same-Sex Marriage a Right Nationwide on 26 June 2015.
Then I came across a link from my Mormon friend, now Bishop of Geelong Ward in Australia whom I got to meet up again last December in my spiritual trip there.
Then I came across a facebook group post by Carlos, Founder and CEO of Group Emporium Corp. It was a lengthy deep article written by him but it captivated my attention to read it to the end. You can access it here with a facebook account to read it for yourself which carries the title below :
(Post-dated event Jan 16 2017: Carlos had terminated his facebook account and the same article can now be read in his LinkedIn account here. An explanation for why he would delete his facebook account for good is can be found in detail here. With this deletion, note that any links that connect to his facebook account in this journal post will no longer be accessible.)
"LOVE, COMPASSION, JUSTICE AND TRUTH ARE ABOVE ALL RELIGIONS!"
I will attempt to critique his article, like the way he does with other current writers that I am aware of such as Robert Bach, the author of Jonathan Livingstone Seagull. Here goes...
Knowing Carlos and his style of writing, he knows how to capture the attention of readers with strong words like in his first line, "As of today, I vow to never step foot in a Catholic Church again until its leaders remove the ludicrous proposition that the bible is the word of God." It is a very bold statement almost as if he is denying God and the scriptures, in this case the Bible as a word of God.
Then he quickly follows up with a very logical statement, showing no disrespect of God but a believe that God expects us to use our intelligence or gifts given to us, "I am a scientist at heart. And I proudly stand with Galileo as I proclaim my own personal creed, "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” Galileo Galilei."
Another strength of Carlos as a writer is his vocabulary of words as he uses the word telesthesia to describe a form of communication that one can acquire with practice suggesting that a perfect God uses it as a more perfect language which Man will struggle trying to acquire it. Carlos ascribes the difficulty of learning it to... in his own words, "The problem with telesthesia is that only God knows that language perfectly. And when we communicate to our Maker through that language, we often don't quite get it right."
He therefore cites the obvious problem of miscommunication in this world either between Man and Man or God with Man, "It amazes me sometimes when people read my writings and arrive at totally different conclusions that I never intended. So it happens with any communication with God through telesthesia. Regardless how clearly I try to communicate with my readers, misinterpretations or errors will happen because none of us is perfect. In a similar way, my communication with my Maker through telesthesia is not perfect although His mastery of telesthesia is perfect." (Grammatical check : 'None of us is perfect or None of us are perfect')
Using his 'scientist at heart' nature and strong intellectual mind, he spends time to write another 4 paragraphs to lead to this strong stance, "So, I'm tired of repeating the aberration that the bible is the word of God when both in my heart and in my mind I know for a fact that's a blatant lie that was designed by white men to justify their delusional superiority over other races. From henceforth, I absolutely refuse to utter the words, "The Word of God," in my association with any organized religion when I know for a fact that there are many ideas in the bible that had absolutely nothing to do with God."
Many paragraphs follow until the end where he made more bold declarations to conclude. His whole article is well structured to sandwich many clear convincing explanations in between two strong top and bottom layers of his well crafted attention getting words from his heart. He introduced his well substantiated contents simply with this two lines, "Despite my differences with the Catholic Church, I still consider myself a Christian. And here's why!" (Typographically error on one paragraph starting with this line, "Regardless what our DNA is, the only way to write wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them,". The word 'write' may have been intended to be 'right'.)
He began with a bold statement, he concluded his writings consistently with a bold conclusion, "What I'm saying here is that the Catholic Church itself has become an impediment towards our quest for truth with its absurd sophism that the bible is the word of God. It may be right on many other things, but one should question whether the good things that it does outweigh the negative consequences of its ubiquitous indiscretions.
And if my reader is still in denial about the church's propensity for ubiquitous indiscretions, think about how they protected the priests who abused innocent children? It was okay for those priests who committed these atrocious acts to be resume their practices but it's not okay for homosexuals to engage in sexual acts between consenting adults. There's simply no way that my heart could possibly condone that huge hypocrisy.
Think about their senseless crusade wars? Think about their participation in the Inquisition? Think of indulgences? Think about how they seldom say a word about racism so as not to upset the very same racist people who contribute every Sunday to heir offerings? (Typographically error on heir which should be 'their'.) The Catholic Church is morally bankrupt. It should file for moral bankruptcy in order to start fresh with the truth instead of drivels. Yet it insists on trying to pass itself for the cradle of morality. I wish all Catholics the best of luck, but please, please don't confuse me with a "devout imbecile," who is ready to swallow hook and sinker the crumbs that his or her masters are willing to dangle in front of his or her mesmerized eyes.
I'm all for forgiveness and redemption. But I'll take my chances before my own Maker instead of relying on the intercession of any church's absolution. As far as I'm concerned, the Catholic Church's intercession isn't worth the price of the paper its influence is written upon. In sum, let it be known to all men and women that I excommunicate myself from the Catholic Church and I hereby express without reservation whatsoever that I never recognized its authority over me and never will I recognize its authority over me from now on and forevermore."
One can conclude that Carlos writes with a very critical thinking mind, sparring no harsh words, the trait of a lawyer's mind who can lead the reader/listener to feel the emotions that he feels and the impetus to initiate a change of mindset.
END OF CRITIQUE
If you haven't read his full article yet, you can read it now by clicking here. My critique of his article, after receiving his approval to reproduce it due to his clear copyright notice, is based purely on his style of writing. with some grammatical comments leaving out commentary on the contents of his article. I prefer to do the commentary on the subject contents of his article at the end of this section of the post as I have to write it not just with my mindful self alone as I did in the above critique, I have to use my whole optimal self using my Body Mind and Spirit. It will done at the end of this section of the post.
After I read his article briefly for the first time, it was clearer to me that what was intended for me to contemplate early this morning stemmed from the news of the US Supreme Court Ruling that Makes Same-Sex Marriage a Right Nationwide on 26 June 2015.
Then I came across a link from my Mormon friend, now Bishop of Geelong Ward in Australia whom I got to meet up again last December in my spiritual trip there.
A timely link shared by my friend Craig Sandford that led to this section of my blogpost found at http://familylane.blogspot.com/2015/06/happenings-in-kuantan-after-i-return.html#ms2
Posted by Sun Fu Chong on Thursday, July 2, 2015
START OF MY COMMENTARY
My commentary of the above named article of Carlos differs from my critique as the latter covers more on his style of writing while the former is to touch on the key contents of what he has written.
It is important to note the position of Carlos who is classified as a Catholic but appears to renounce his religion, ex-communicating himself with the reason that he feels direct contact with God is possible without the need of religion. He has also stated various logical and moral reasons justifying his thinking and actions. For instance he questioned why historically the church with it's claim of revelations from God "had to wait for the brilliant observation of a scientist to clarify that earth revolves around the sun and not the other way around?" With the same logic he questioned why "cardinals have to vote for each future pope?" instead of asking God.
He was equally strong on moral issue problems that the Catholic Church has that the public is aware of, thus boldly naming it morally bankrupt and therefore making the Church unqualified to support the stand the Church makes on two main doctrines. One of it is that the Bible is the word of God and the second is the doctrine against same sex marriage which the US Supreme court had recently decided, on 26 June 2015 in a 5 against 4 votes of judges to make same sex marriage legal nationwide which also applies to Canada.
After reading his article I left a facebook comment, "What can I say or comment being a Chinese from Asia, a Mormon and an aspiring writer?" As a Chinese in Asia, my comments would be in a milder tone probably the way wisdom is shared by ancient wise men, if I had any in store myself! Next as a Mormon whose fundamental doctrine is a belief that God still speaks to Man today, I can probably share other interesting insights of the Church beyond what the public tends to remember about Mormons i.e. of their practice of polygamy in the past! As an aspiring writer, I have the benefit to use my creativity to connect to the readers in a universe still unfolding so I look forward to that.
In his article, 3 key points were intertwined together.
1) The distrust of the Catholic Church.
2) The disbelief of the Church doctrine that the Bible is the Word of God.
3) The disagreement with the Church stand against same sex marriage as it is an act of oppression
I will share my comments on these 3 points below
1) The Catholic Church is one of the oldest religious institutions and has a very large membership of over a billion members. The Catholic Church teaches that it is the one true church founded by Jesus Christ, that its bishops are the successors of Christ's apostles, and that the Pope is the successor to Saint Peter. In 1517 the protestant reformation started with Martin Luther which led to the existence of the Protestant Churches today with early founders like John Calvin, John Wesley and other protestant reformers. Even King Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic to make himself head of the English Church known as Church of England today. In light of this information, Carlos need not feel in any way uncomfortable about his decision. However his boldness in sharing it in the article reflects his honesty to himself to act on what he knows and how he feels i.e. to be true to himself.
2) On this point Carlos declared, "The idea of the bible being the word of God is definitely one that we must ponder thoroughly before we accept that hypothesis at face value." There is wisdom in his statement. Can one believe that the Bible contained absolutely no errors of any kind when it was written and since then there was supernatural power to prevent copyists and translators to make any mistakes intentionally or by accident? Many even claim that the words chosen by the Biblical authors were directly supplied by God thus making the text of the Bible literally "the Word of God." These were probably the questions Carlos asked himself when he made the declaration.
3) Carlos is not only a man of courage but is also a man of great empathy for the oppressed. He expressed feelings for the Black people in his city and stands in solidarity with them. I am surprised he uses the term 'Black people' when I came to understand that African American would be the more amiable term to use in modern day America. (See footnote 1) Despite his differences with the Catholic Church he still declares himself a Christian as he feels Jesus also stood with the oppressed and the persecuted therefore qualifying to be a brother to him. Carlos feels for the persecuted Jews during the time of Nazi Germany but how about for the Palestinians today as shared by the General's son? So in life, things can really swing around and I feel on the issue of the law made to recognize same sex marriage, I am concerned it may affect the freedom of conservative religions who oppose it. The greater negative consequence I fear as a Chinese in Asia and a family man is what will happen to society and mankind if the role of families and the up bringing of children become negatively affected by this change?
I will now take the time to share my views wearing the hat as a Chinese from Asia, a Mormon and an aspiring writer covering the same 3 points below :
1) In the world if one were to be interested to seek the truth about God, the purpose of life or the plan of salvation based on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, one need to consider only two churches to choose his or her faith to depend on. Why do I make this bold statement? As a Chinese obedient to laws of my earthly father and honoring him till his old age and beyond death, I exercise the intelligence of my western education given to me by my father to think which of two churches might hold the authority of God given to man to act in his name. I would consider either the Catholic Church or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (nicknamed the Mormons in short). All other protestant churches cannot be considered as though their founders were sincere to improve or correct the errors in the older churches, they never claimed any divine intervention or authority as a prophet called to restore the church nor did the break-aways from them that have led to a myriad types of churches found today.
The reason is only these two churches claim they have authority from God in their Church. Catholics claim an unbroken succession of that authority of God, called the priesthood, from the time Jesus walked the earth and passed to the original twelve apostles. Mormons claim that an apostasy that was prophesied by the early prophets had occurred after the Savior was killed together with his apostles and the priesthood therefore was taken away for a period of time where thereafter Man lived in a period of darkness without revelation from God. At an appropriate time close to the second coming of the Savior, as also prophesied, the church will be restored once again giving all the necessary keys of the priesthood to establish the Lord's true church once again upon this earth until he returns, to sit on the throne as the divine ruler of God's kingdom on this earth.
2) Mormons have a modern version of the old saying and that is, "We believe the Bible to be the word of God so far as it is translated correctly." Due to the founding principle that we believe in modern revelation or that God still reveals to Man he has chosen today to be his mouthpiece or Prophets to lead the Church, there is an addition that.."we also believe the Book of Mormon to be a word of God." (No. 8 of the 13 Articles of Faith )
Yes I know it is a very hard thing to believe at a time when Man today even doubt if God exists with all the suffering of the people today due to wars, diseases and calamities in the world. I thought so too when I was turning 21 to graduate from university to hear 2 American Elders tell me about a young 14 year old boy named Joseph Smith and his 1st Vision. My journal recorded that, " I felt that if this was true, the knowledge gained from this visitation would be even more important than that of Man going to the Moon. I therefore listened eagerly and was very impressed with what I had heard. I was even given the Book of Mormon as a way to find out if what I heard was true, that Joseph Smith did indeed see God and that he was indeed a prophet of God."
3) As a Chinese in Asia, I felt the views of the Dalai Lama on same sex marriage would be interesting to know. Carlos who declared himself to be a feminist in his article, one who believes in the equality of the sexes, will find compatibility with the Dalai Lama who is also a feminist. He described sexual morality for the non-religious as a “personal matter”, but noted that same-sex marriage was “up to the country’s law”. When pressed further on his personal opinion, he replied “That’s okay. I think individual business”. Do read this interesting article about what the Dalai Lama really thinks.
The Mormon Church issued a brief statement on the same day the Supreme Court's judgement was announced. It also released a letter to all members of the Church containing a Full introductory letter, statement and background material on the matter with the following extract, "The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches us to love and treat all people with kindness and civility—even when we disagree. We affirm that those who avail themselves of laws or court rulings authorizing same-sex marriage should not be treated disrespectfully. Indeed, the Church has advocated for rights of same-sex couples in matters of hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment, and probate, so long as these do not infringe on the integrity of the traditional family or the constitutional rights of churches."
My concluding comment is on the act of Carlos to stand with the oppressed and persecuted as our older brother Jesus did is being true to God's will. Let me share some scriptures with you from the Bible and other latter-day scriptures that support this noble act as follows:
For anyone who is a member of the Church and may struggle with feelings for another of the same sex, here is a very long dialogue with an Apostle Dallin H. Oaks found here.
Foot note 1 : In my part of the world, I am a Chinese Malaysian or Malaysian Chinese use interchangeably as I am born here and also the fact that Chinese is considered a race, a matter of semantics actually. We also have a British Malaysian for a British citizen who chose to live in Malaysia and become a citizen of the country but semantically would not sound right to call them Malaysian British as British is not a race but maybe caucasian or anglo saxon might sound better.
2nd July US time or 3rd July Malaysia time
Received an email from Su, following our Father's day google hangout that she would be visiting the doctor for a baby scan.
Here is the ultra scan pic of the baby who is due on 20 Jan 2016
Wow this is the beginning of life of a child, the first of the NEXT NEXT GENERATION from the brood that started FAMILYLANE with it's Bird Stories
4th July US time or 5th July Malaysia time
I created a twitter account 3 years ago but never really used it. Some how my Kuantan experience inspired me to shoot off my first Tweet to the world which I captured in a screen shot below :
I scanned the facebook timelines of some of my friends in the USA and couldn't feel anything exciting going on like in past years.
I am not a bird watcher by any means due to my active busy life with multi-tasking activities if I'm sitting in front of the computer. Being by the 'Garden of Eden' writing, guess it is my luck again to look at the tree where the birdlings have grown up and left an empty nest, to capture the video clip below of the same tree at the right time :
I wondered if the two birdlings in the nest had come back to the tree but on closer observation and comparison to the previous video of the larger birdling perched on the branch with feathers, these two birds did not look like the same breed. The previous video found ab
I had completed my commentary on Carlos's article above and while browsing facebook to feel what is going on for the July 4th celebrations in the US, I browsed my Google+ pages to find Carlos having written another Linkedin article that mentioned a public chat by Mark Zuckerberg which is covered in a business insider report here. Carlos is quite an amazing writer plus he will be a guru in all the social media sites at the rate he is going besides his achievements facebook!
7th day of the 7th month of the year 2015
The above video could on by published in youtube on 7th July In Kuala Lumpur when I made another quick trip there to process some government documents. I was busy on Monday and could only upload the photos and videso to my camera the next day and was surprised to realize another coincidence had occurred that the video clip(MAH00718.MP4) captured on Sunday the 5th was automatically transferred into the 7th July folder in my notebook as shown below :
Interesting to note that this latest video was captured just before I left Kuantan for a short urgent trip to KL that is on the same occasion as when the last bird video clip was captured!
...most likely to be continued until I leave Kuantan!
Before I leave Kuantan for Singapore to visit the boys and then fly off on a business trip to the US, the story cannot end until I officially recognize the amazing contractor Mr Chew below with a superman tee shirt as seen below! He and his faithful workers who could paint the indoor of the home in 7 days, paint the exterior next in shorter time, paint all the metal grills, fixed additional wall plugs with wires completely hidden without using the ugly exterior plastic casings, scale the building to the roof top for difficult jobs. Best part is he does quality work and was willing to show and tell me how he doesn't add water to the paint, how to discern if any conducting wire is pure copper or not that will not rust, pure stainless steel or not, how to cut a tree in such a way that the last step is to push the trunk a little and the tree falls in the exact direction desired without hitting any infrastructure nearby.
What was interesting to find out from him was that he had a very serious accident just over 3 months ago, at the time of writing, where another car hit him from the front. Though it could not match my head on collision with a truck in 1985, he is still recognized by me to be a Superman indeed as not only did he survive but despite heavy bleeding, it stopped quickly and his wounds healed quickly. He said he had type O negative blood which is quite rare and hard to get donors for it.
