New Car!

bmw-316i-2015

Finally, I’ve fulfilled the promise I made to myself 23 year old self – that is to get a BMW while I’m still in my 20’s!

And I sure held it off for years… With only one year plus left to hit my target (going to be 29 years old in less than a week)

Sometimes I think I could have had achieved it faster if I had kept the fire burning and hustle at high intensity. Maybe I could have gotten a new car at least 2 years earlier?

However I don’t regret the process. I am very glad I followed the process of accumulating my material gains in an ‘orderly fashion’ and stuck to it.

Take care of my mom’s side first -> build and grow the business -> secure a house first and get out of rented property -> squeezed in at least 1 property purchase for investing -> then finally I move in to reward myself with a new car!

I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

I know most people would have splashed on a big car almost immediately after making some money. Which is totally unwise no matter how I see it.

I know with 100% conviction that I earned my new ride the right, smart way and that I took care of my bases very well before anything else.

So what’s next? Just gonna grow my digital publishing and online marketing business further, and buy more assets! That’s the name of the game. 🙂

BMW316i

Good Men Go (R.I.P. Jayshe Han)

One of my Airsoft friends, Jayshe Han, had contracted cancer and been fighting it for around a year. We received a message passed onto us that he was in critical condition and he didn’t have long to live.

I detoured from the gym and head over to his residence in Cheras. The atmosphere was heavy and the once cheerful, fit and larger-than-life man was now reduced to nearly skeleton.

I was at a loss for words and even though I said to “stay strong” I knew it was false assurance. I wanted to hug him but he was too frail and weak, and in the company of his wife, family and close friends holding onto every part of him, we could only be careful. As he laid suffering on the recliner chair, it was the day even the toughest of men cried.

To give an insight into what kind of man he was: when I was new to the team 4 years ago Jay was one of the first people to talk to me and welcomed me with open arms; I was pretty much a loner then.

His looks might had been intimidating but he always had the best of intentions. Although without children, he had been a father figure to his nieces and nephews and stayed loyal to his loving wife up to his final day; his get well cards were gold testaments to his character and how he lived his life.

Alas, it is with great sadness that our friend, brother and comrade passed away 7:25 this morning. It was just two weeks ago that celebrated his 49th birthday.

Jay, it must had been a tough 3 weeks but you’re now free at last. We already miss your cheerful presence and great sense of humor and friendship. Rest in peace Jay.

Not only were you a great brother to me and others, you also touched lives when you were not wearing the uniform. I am truly and forever honored to have fought by your side for the last 4 years!

 

Rest In Peace Brother, Comrade, Amazing Friend, General.

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SHORT ACTION FILM: HVT Run

I didn’t want to announce this until I was sure it was complete – and here it is! During the Raya season I collaborated with a group of friends to direct and produce a short action film of our own.

Presenting… HVT Run!

Behind The Scenes And Bloopers:

In 2011 and 2012, I made two attempts to put out a short action film for the fun of it. Even though we shot the pre-production footages – painstakingly – they never got past post-production because we were hinging our hopes on one guy to do it… and well… he sucks balls.

That was in spite of working with the likes of Dan Khoo, Joseph Germani and JinnyBoyTV on the second round and at the time, it seemed so surefire that the short action film will be out.

I was upset about it though I know that the opportunity will come again, and I will do it myself when I meet the right group of people and find someone reliable to do the post-production, even if it means paying my way through for a non-profit film.

And I finally did this time!

So in more ways than one, I feel accomplished that the completion of this piece has redeemed me of my past failed attempts, YES!

It’s not without its mistakes but then again, which movie makes no mistakes? Haha!

I look forward to making more like this in the near future, when I am not working. 🙂

Setbacks and Responses

1. I should be going to Pattaya, Thailand tomorrow… except that Thai Sky Adventures inevitably had to call off all skydiving trips because they are expecting new plane parts coming from the US. This means I had to change my flight ticket too. Was really looking forward to the second jump off the plane in my life.

RESPONSE: Well nothing I could really do about it. So yes, I changed my flight details online at the expense of an extra RM200. But since Thai Sky Adventures offered to compensate with free videos and photos, I consider the deal even. Will be going there in 11-13 August.

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to join Muizz Hasnani and his gang from Brunei given the unexpected change. I doubt they would go since the fasting season is just around the corner… which means, I’ll be going alone.

2. My personal fitness trainer Quling just measured my results today after 4 weeks. Not good. While I gained 1KG in weight and 600g in muscles but so did my body fat – I went from 16.9% to 17.2%.

The culprit is obvious – I had been eating out more often than I cooked at home the past 4 weeks to satisfy my growing hunger.

The good news is that I’ve been progressing with the training in spite of the increasing intensity. I am able to lift heavier weights now (average 30-45 kg vs. 5-20kg when I first started, depending on the workouts). I coped well with running even though speed had gone up from 8 miles to 10 / 10.5 miles and incline 2.0% to 3.0%.

RESPONSE: it’s really the food I’ve been taking. My skin doctor warned me before that I put on weight easily after my harmonal check up results came in. So it’s back to basics for me – cook and eat at home most of the time and cut down drastically on eating out.

My protein shake came in last week and I’ll be drinking it after my work outs and substitute some meals too.

3. My latest launch with Tony Sanders and Dylan this month didn’t go as well as planned and it certainly didn’t justify our efforts put into it.

RESPONSE: We big boys don’t sulk. 😉 We comin’ back strong with another launch in November. LOL mean time I’m working with Desmond Ong on another ClickBank launch and it’s been a great learning experience so far as it’s totally different from what I do in the Private Label Rights niche.

Half Year Update

1. It’s 3 months into the Qunling training program and I’ve not been so pleased with my physical results in a long time. 🙂 Before I started training, my body fat percentage was 18% and just last Monday, I measured again and it’s now 16.9%. (I’m a thin person so there’s not much fats to lose to begin with.)

I’m even more satisfied with the gain of muscle mass – 3.8 kilos in 4 weeks! Though I would later lose 100g of that in the recent measurement too; must had been from overrunning the threadmill.

So right now, the program has a slight change – I’ll be lifting more weights twice as more than running the threadmill. Also unlike the previous training where there was no rest in between, this time there will be a 30 second rest before continuing the next set of workouts. Also expecting the protein powder to come in this week to take my workout results to the next level.

2. The short action film “Office Siege” I had been working on is going through ‘post-production hell’ right now. Up until just a couple of days ago, I was the only one working on it. I was very frustrated with how slow things were going but only these few days, things started to pick up.

For starters, the missing sniper scene required for the film piece was finally done and over with yesterday! Got my French friend Oliver to oblige. Heheh!

It took only a few minutes and we even had time to do a short skit with whatever props, items and even a (senseless) storyline we came up in the short notice.

Brian Lee, main camera guy and godly wizard of special effects, helped me get started with Adobe After Effects CS5.5. I’m still in the learning stages although I handle Sony Vegas Pro quite okay on the basic level already. Can’t wait to get this out – it’s been 3 months since most of the raw footages of the film were taken already!

3. Travel Plans. Since the US/UK trip early this year, I have yet to go anywhere else outside Malaysia and I foresee a bundle of traveling trips towards the near end of the year.

22th – 25th July: Pattaya, Thailand. Will be jumping off a plane again. With a parachute, of course.

September: spend a week in New Zealand.

October: take my mom to Shanghai for a holiday.

November: 13th is Padro and Vera’s wedding in Jakarta; 26th is Jonathan’s wedding in Mauritius. And everyone’s going to ask “when’s my turn” again. Hmm…

Gtg now. More updates later!