A Day in Life

Okay I’ve been stocking up a barrage of photos in my hand phone over the past two weeks and it’s finally time to upload them onto my Personal Blog! 🙂

Stuart Tan’s Supertelethon.org

Alright, there are no photos to display here because the call was done over the phone. On 13th September, I took part in Stuart Tan’s Super Telethon Charity program – whereby I was one of the 36 speakers, each participating in a 60-minute call with Stuart Tan.

I got my hand phone loaded with more than enough prepaid credits and battery charged just in time to take the call. Definitely, it wouldn’t have been nice to become a “no show” and who else better to talk on the subject of Private Label Rights? 🙂 Ha ha!

I have had the pleasure of meeting Stuart in person earlier this year at Adam Khoo Learning Technologies in Tanjong Pagar, Singapore. I found Stuart to be friendly and motivating. This is the same guy who had authored/co-authored a number of best-selling books on Self Improvement and Internet Marketing? Amazing!

Certainly, I look forward to meeting him again real soon, possibly next month in Singapore.

Moving into the Pink House

It was rise and shine – time to leave the “falling apart” house for a better place to call home… away from home!

After 15 minutes of packing everything up, this pretty much summarized all the things I was going to take with me. One car trip definitely more than suffices!

On my way out, I spotted a familiar looking car in maroon. I wonder who drives this devilish car? Hmmm… looks like the Fuu Fuu Mobile.

Once moving in the things into the new pink house, Khai and I made a quick dash to IKEA to purchase some furniture like chair, table and a 3-drawer cupboard.

Yup, that’s me lazing around on the chair at IKEA. Think Professor X (or Professor Loh if you’d rather).

As soon as we brought the things back to my new place, I quickly unpacked the boxes and went on to set up my first chair!

Not bad for someone who isn’t good at handiwork, huh? 😉 Unfortunately, the handy work proved too much for me so predictably, I hired Matt to help me with the table and cupboard set up.

Looks like Matt grew tired of my incompetence when it comes to handiwork. That’s ample warning alright!

Next, I had to help Jennifer with the moving of her things from her apartment into the new house as well. This would mean FREE furniture, decorations and kitchen utilities for me in this new home! 🙂 However, I don’t cook and I hardly watch TV, if any at all.

In a nutshell, Jennifer owns a chain of laundry businesses – 5 in all – TTDI, Bukit Jelutong, Bangsar, and two more. And she’s definitely NOT stopping: she’s currently expanding her business further and I could see she is the frugal entrepreneur stereotype, whereby you pour most of your profits back into the business for expansion over spending on yourself.

Hmm… that pretty much solves my laundry problems. 😛

Heading to Mindvalley Labs

Ah, life of an X-Men. 🙂 The Institute of Higher Learning for Gifted Youngsters. Honestly, for some reason, I feel quite at home there though I spend only a couple of hours there a day, and come in on the average of 2-3 days a week.

Saw Yuenn on a Piano Lessons Ad!

Heeey… looks like Yuenn is actually famous!

Got Stuck in a Lift for More than 30 Minutes!

Now how often do things like this actually happen? Close to zero. Or so I thought.

I was leaving Mindvalley Labs when the lift suspended at the first floor – one more storey to the ground floor! It was a Lif Bomba thus there were two doors in the lift: one being the main and the other on the left.

When the lift was suspended at the first floor, the side door was opening a little, and then it closed. Then it opened a little again, and then it closed. Over and over again. And due to the violent impact, the lift was practically shaking every 10 seconds.

And you know what? I was all alone in the lift!

I was to meet John Tan shortly to discuss a programming project but as luck had it, there was no reception in the lift therefore my hand phone was practically rendered useless. And not that pressing all the buttons on the lift actually helped, anyway.

For a moment, I really, REALLY thought I was going to die. Suddenly becoming pessimistic, I counted the levels below the first floor: Ground, LG1, LG2, B1, B2. If the lift breaks by any chance, I would plunge down to my death 5 storey deep. Life flashed before my eyes.

Well hey, who has ever heard of people dying because of lifts breaking off? But thanks to the horror/action movies I have been watching, the scenes of lifts breaking off and people inside plunging down to their explosive deaths came rushing to my mind, at a time where a big chunk of my logic flew off my head.

Fortunately, there was an INTERKOM feature on the lift! After ringing the button a couple of times, I was almost relieved when I heard the security personnel answered my distress for rescue! 🙂

While waiting for the lift door to open…

After experiencing quake every 10 seconds for more than half an hour and lights going on and off occasionally, I rushed out as soon as the door opened!

I was half-expecting someone – the maintenance guy – to be around so I could thank him. But there was no one in sight. Oh, so the lift door was opened by remote control, huh?

Uh, thanks anyway. I would better be off to my meeting with John (and still got there 5 minutes early in spite of the half an hour delay)!

I was relating this to Hazel and being the preacher and hailer of all things logic, she went on to patiently explain to me the structure of a lift, where was it made (China, by the way), why it would never fall off, yadda yadda yadda… (Sorry, my caveman brain could only absorb so much but thanks for the education!). 🙂

Goes to show that little knowledge is dangerous, no knowledge at all is embarrassing! I’m still not sure about taking a lift again though; might prefer the stairs this time?

Playing Settlers of Catan with Dennis Sim

Dennis Sim the comment guy! He came all the way from Klang NOT to comment on us, but to join us in two rounds of Settlers of Catan. 😛

Being a first timer, Khai patiently explained the rules of the game to Dennis.

And over here, we have Yuenn showing off her rubber band skills. She just made an airplane out of two rubber bands!

Can’t seem to leave me alone, huh? Yuenn built a town all over my face and torso.

Okay, it’s game time!

2 Hours Later…
Sorry I just had to win both the games, friends! 😛 (I bet Khai and Yuenn were fuming… especially Yuenn.)

Random Shots

Elephant on a trailer on Saturday night!

A dizzy shot at the Bangsar Permai Saturday Night party.

Khai Lee probably drank too much.

Pour this solution over your computer and expect it to get rid of your stubborn spam problems instantly! 🙂

Heeey… it’s a stray kura! Feel like smuggling it back home. 😛

I could use a bit of hair cut soon…

And to Wrap it Up…

What a fruitful two weeks of fun after the Product Launch! 🙂

I’d better rest well before I continue with my Internet Marketing journey to supremacy. Thanks for the King’s treatment, Eve! 🙂

Finally! Here’s a weekly recap on my first week of September 2007. 🙂

Hmm… the last three posts left a “dark” impression. It’s time to brighten up my Personal Homepage with some fun pictures and photos:-

Wednesday – 5th September

Initially, I planned to execute the entire duration of the week-long PLRGold5 launch from my home in Johor Bahru (that’s one thing cool about working from home, by the way 🙂 ). But having stayed in PJ and KL for a few months already, I have unfinished business to attend to thus cutting my stay in JB short.

And so, I made haste to PJ by bus in the morning. Pretty hectic, considering that I hardly slept in the past several days due to over-excitement, anxiety and enormous idea overload.

Heh. Story of my life.

And just when I was going to “go low on battery” upon arrival in PJ…

Thanks Eve, for coming to my rescue! 🙂 Delicious vegetable soup, cooked with love and all things nice. That was my lunch for the day, by the way.

Okay, now on with some serious offline/online business. Grr…

Thursday – Quest for a New Base

Since I will be pro-longing my stay in PJ/KL (friends, this is the part where you say “hooray for Edmund!“), and that I am not fixed nor committed to staying in a particular location for any projects or contracts, thus no reason for me to continue staying in the haunted house room I am currently renting, I decided to venture out and look for a new place to stay. 🙂

I came across this place in Damansara Kim with a Jennifer Chang, a new acquaintance (more about her next time around). The house is love at first sight, so to say. I live quite simple and thrifty by nature (that’s how I’m able to live in the current haunted house rented room).

The house is quite clean overall. All of the electrical power points are functional. The grass is short and the garden is easy to maintain. The bathroom has a heater. The area is generally safe, peaceful and secure. 🙂 Ah, and did I mention that rent is relatively affordable too? The only draw back is that the house is pink in color. But then, that’s what makes it distinguishing and… it’s better than the haunted house rented room I am living in at the moment, again.

I look forward to establishing my base here anytime next week, after I spring clean it. Friends, I’ll be inviting you over. 😛

Let’s Go Walk Around and Unwind…

Now that I have secured myself a new settlement for global domination in PJ/KL, it’s time to…

… Nah, not go back to work again.

I find it interesting that many self-made entrepreneurs often continue to work, work and work, even though they answer to only themselves. And what more fascinating is that most of the successful entrepreneurs continue to work although they have more than enough wealth to last them a lifetime! I haven’t reached that stage yet, though I consider myself highly accomplished and successful in my own rights.

Then, I guess it all boils down to passion. You don’t tell an artist to stop painting pictures, do you? Neither do you tell a musician to stop producing new records. On the same token, you don’t tell entrepreneurs to stop making money, or stop doing business, or stop selling, or stop helping other people, or stop doing whatever they are (enjoying) doing.

But I have also come to learn that play and having fun is just as important as work is – despite so many friends and concerned beings tirelessly drumming this fact into my thick skull. Ha! Ha!

So for a start, I decided to take a trip with my MP4 to… KLCC. 🙂

As soon as I exited the KLCC LRT station, I first took a detour to Avenue K. Haven’t been here for 3 years, I think. It was relatively new and under construction when I was went there.

Hey wait… haven’t had my dinner yet. I need to make a detour to Burger King.

(Half an hour later)

Yuuummy *burp*… now let’s continue our little adventure, shall we? 🙂

Huh? Empty? Whoa. 4-5 floors of empty stores with no one in sight. Was I in the wrong building? Nevermind. Let’s head over to some place with more life.

Yep. KLCC. 🙂 Teeming with people and life.

I’ve also checked out Comics Mart at Midvalley Megamall. There was a featured article on it in the papers just several days back, raving about it being the proxy of all comic and game buffs.

A Day Well Spent Unwinding…

… now back to my humble room. 🙂

A lot of my friends and people who have been to this room before often wonder how I could settle for a place like this, even though it’s a temporary place for me in PJ/KL. Believe me, I’ve stayed in places worse than this somewhere along in my life. And I also know what it’s like being homeless for a few days in a foreign country. 😉

The only reason I chose this place some 6 months ago was because of my apprenticeship with Sen Ze and I needed to be as close to his office as possible, thus I picked location over comfort. Besides, I knew I was going to be hardly at home anyway.

Now that my Apprenticeship contract has expired, and that I still have unfinished business to attend to in PJ/KL, I’m game on shifting to a better place now (hint: the house in pink). After all, I don’t have to fix myself to a particular location.

Friday Night

Okay, done with business. Now it’s time to have some fun again. This time, I had my dinner in a “more luxurious than usual” place, Dragon-I.

But before that…

NO.

Having late dinner at Dragon-i, 1Utama.
L-R: Eric, Ken, Eileen, Matt.

The One World Hotel experience. 🙂

So that wraps it up! Posted a lot of stuff on my Personal Homepage quite frequently as of lately. I need to give it a rest.

Yep, I disappeared into the busy hive of Damansara Uptown again last week. 🙂 Here’s last week’s wrap up:-

Wednesday

Hmm… what brings me here to Klang? I never really liked going to Klang, even though both my parents originated from this place. It gives me a “dull” mood every time I come here for as long as I can remember.

However, the trip was inevitable as I had to have my will written. A lot of my friends gave me the surprise look when I told them about it. I often heard comments like “you’re still young” “don’t be negative” “why are you planning so early when you can do it later” etc.

But here’s the thing: the moment you begin accumulating some wealth, assets, properties, etc. it’s already time you should have your will written. And all the more if you are shouldering responsibilities for the people you are taking care of.

I know many people are not comfortable discussing the “what if”s where death is concerned – much less actually think and act about it. But I’m not saying we should all be pessimistic but practical.

Let’s face it: anything can happen to any one of us – and death does not recognize discrimination in age, gender, religion, social status, etc. and there’s this saying that “everyone is equal under the grass“. It can’t get any truer than that!

Personally, I don’t have my brains on legal matters so the evening was very educational even though it was only a couple of hours of meeting with the Financial Planner I was recommended to. I’ve also learned that if one doesn’t have any specific will in place in the event of death, there will be a default quota on your wealth to be distributed among your spouse, children, parents, and *sigh* government.

Well, since I have no spouse and children (yet)… the will was custom written. 🙂 The good thing is that the will can always be updated every few years depending on the growth of my business, assets, properties, etc. and even cover residue entities (meaning what you foresee to accumulate in the near future).

Thursday

I can’t bring myself to say this, but Victor was wiping the floor with me in Quake III Arena.

Fortunately, the cyber cafe torment was cut short when Victor had to leave to watch a Football game with his other friends (don’t boo me but watching 22 other guys chasing after a ball on TV isn’t my idea of amusement). 😛

And what do you know? Matty Matt of Internet Money Blog decided to meet up with me in person! 🙂 I finally found someone with stamina, too – we talked… and walked all the way from SS2 to Damansara Uptown, and then some. 🙂

Very smart and interesting discussion with Internet Marketing ideas and strategies, as Matt was promising me instant riches. 😛 🙂 *hee hee hee!*

As a result from the super long talk (starting 10:30 PM through 3:30 in the morning), I spent the most of the next day in K.O. mode.

Saturday

Since I will be taking off to Johor Bahru the next day, and was kind of lethargic from PLRGold PLRGold PLR-whatever JV Recruitment drive and pre-launch, I decided to take off the entire weekend and have some fun… like heading to 1Utama.

And playing Settlers of Catan with Khai, Yuenn and Fuu Fuu.

Wrap-up ends here! 🙂

I found it really hard to leave my peaceful home in Johor Bahru for the rinky dink, rented room back in PJ. After almost a week… here I am again in Johor Bahru! 🙂 The lifestyle and going-ons in PJ is highly hectic and energy-draining for me. It made me more sure than ever that if I were to maximize my creative juices and productivity – my peaceful in JB is the place to be.

Cozy, quiet, relaxing, no crazy people knocking on my door telling me they weren’t happy about losing at a computer game the night before and demanded a rematch… and probably the Earth magnet is stronger in the south (or is it the Feng Shui?).

It had been an interesting week in PJ, nonetheless. My Apprenticeship contract with Sen Ze had expired recently, and since the rented room is still in effect for the next 2 months, I might as well leave it as it is, since I foresee coming back to PJ and forth now and then.

Okay, here goes…

25th July – Launch Party Night At Gobi’s House

Vince Tan smiling to himself. Sales rolling in from the “Big Hype” launch (which turned out to be one involving funding their trip to the US).

Khai doesn’t want to be excluded from the fun, too. Accompanying him is Yuenn.

Gobala: While you guys work hard, I’ll help myself with the Domino’s Pizza.

Come, let’s play “Bang” (the board game).

Melvin: I bang YOU, Vince.
Vince: Bring it on! 🙂
Gobala: I’m leashing out my Indians *bwo-wo-wo-wo-bop!* (immitates Red Indian sound)
Khai: I’m the Sheriff!
Yuenn: Please don’t kill me in the game early, k?

Vince: Alright, let’s play “That’s Life”. It’s a brainless game so heck, let’s roll.
Melvin: Hmm… finally, a game more of my speed. 🙂

The Wee Hours of Thursday Morning…

No pics on this one, but it’s worth mentioning that I actually met a frequent blog reader by the name of Ben Chin – at 3 in the morning, at a mamak stall in Damansara Uptown! 🙂 If you see him appearing on the MyBlogLog roll on the left of this website, yep, that’s him.

Small world…

Meet Eve Soh…

… the one responsible for keeping me from losing my hair to insanity stress. 🙂

Dinner with Mindvalley Team and Luna Bar

I’ve met up with Khai Lee and his Mindvalley peeps for the last 2 days, just before I returned to Johor Bahru town today.

Interesting, interactive, crazy and creative bunch of people! Hard to find people of the similar species nowadays.

Apparently Khai Lee’s favorite restaurant that we dine in Bangsar. No it’s NOT the bank; it’s a restaurant named after it – Hot and Spicy Bangsar Cuisine!

We went to Luna Bar, which is situated at the extreme top of a hotel, in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. Very nice view from the top! That’s 33 storeys above the ground.

It made recall me standing at the top of a tall building, enjoying the similar view, some 3 years back. At that time, I didn’t really know what to do next (never thought about Internet Marketing whatsoever) and yes, future seemed kinda bleak at that time. Funny how things can turn to be out of expectation, right? I’ve experienced many incidents of what I call “Then, the impossible had happened“. More on that some other time.

I took this opportunity to be acquainted with almost every member of the Mindvalley team – asked them what they do, what they are good at, their opinions and ideas on a few things, what on earth is Ruby on Rails, what is this “SocialRank” thingy, etc.

Me: So what is SocialRank?
Mike Reinings: You already know what it is.
Me: … why do you think I already know what it is?
Mike: … you already know why you already know.

Sounds almost just as absurd as the cheesy dialogs between Neo and the Oracle in The Matrix trilogy, don’t you think?

Me at the Luna Bar.

Xin Ci with me. She’s currently working at MindValley as an Intern for 2 months (1 more month to go). She hails all the way from the North i.e. Penang!

L-R: Aslak the Programming Whiz, Khai Lee, me.

And one last pic to seal the post…

Think Dragon Ball… 😉

Catch up soon – and don’t forget to check back often!

Hey Everyone!

I’m currently taking a short retreat in my humble home in Johor Bahru now, and will be here for another less than a week or so before I find myself in the PJ/KL grinder again. The PJ/KL lifestyle is hectic (and it has always been!) – this is one of those times I could appreciate a short vacation.

Now I know why people often say, “there’s no place like home“. 🙂

Okay, Some Important Updates…

2 posts back, I made a special mention about marking the 24th of July on your calendar. Because that will be the grand day my next Product Launch, Resell Rights Xtreme, goes live.

Or so it should.

Unfortunately, due to time constraints and the issues Khai and I have been facing in setting up the CMSInfusion script, we felt that the best course of action is to postpone the Product Launch to a later date.

We know that a lot of our JV Partners and waiting-to-be-customers are waiting for it – and we sincerely apologize. Like you, we too hate delays. However, weighing between the customer satisfaction and rushing to push an untested package into the marketplace, we’d take serving customer satisfaction anytime of the day.

We’ll keep you posted on RRX soon…

Some Photos

My workplace a.k.a. work station a.k.a. home office. I know, it doesn’t look like one. But I prefer to keep things neat and simple – no papers and folders scattering around the desk and floor. 🙂

Yup – that’s me. I really miss working from home in casual!

Meet Kura and Kura…

… and Kura and Kura (no typo – all of my pet tortoises share the same Last Name. ;-))

Meet Auwlithe, my Chief of Security.

So you see, my house/home office is teeming with life… 😉