As we all know, girls tend to cry a lot more than guys. I do know some guys who cry a lot……and some girls who don’t cry much but those are the minorities. I, for one, do cry a bit here and there whenever i’m alone. I’m quite an emotional + sentimental guy — typical Piscean.

So what is your response…or the first thing that came across your mind when you see a guy crying? Shame on him? Funny? Or you just react normal? I think for most of us, we’ll feel WEIRD. Maybe because it is our culture, the way we’ve been brought up by our parents, siblings, teachers, relatives and friends – and everyone has been telling us that a guy should not cry. Ever heard of the Chinese saying “Liu Xie Bu Liu Lei” (pardon my poor Han Yu Pin Yin) or “rather let my blood flow than my tears”.

Recently i’d watched a Japanese movie on my flight to UK (MAS, was told the movie was also shown by Japan Airlines). The movie touched my heart….the feelings, the atmosphere…music…colors…..characters….story…everything. It is, until now, one of the best movies i’ve seen and the rare few which actually touched my heart. Check out the movie “Say Hello For Me” at the official web site http://www.sonokare.com. And tears formed in my eyes while watching that movie, i don’t know why. But of course, not crying la. Definitely not in the plane! Oh…and the lights were off…so OK la.

Back to topic. So what do you think? Any opinion? For me, in my humble opinion……when i see a guy cries, i will definitely feel WEIRD but there’s really nothing wrong with it. He might be very sad…disappointed…touched, whatever. As long as it’s not over petty reasons…..i think a man has the right to cry and everyone around him should respect him…NOT looking at him like a weirdo.

p/s… i’ve cried in a lot of occasions before…when i leave my country and my family for UK…..when i left my previous company and my nice colleagues……when my ex-boss left us and asked me to take care before i flew off to UK….and when i saw my parents n sis cried.

Check out this article from BusinessWeek : Asia’s Young Entrepreneurs.

Maybe my eyes are failing on me but i could only see 2 Malaysians from the 25 entrepreneurs. Both of them are from the same company: Nuffnang, the online advertising company. 1 from Indonesia, 1 from Japan, 0 from Korea. Most of them are from Hong Kong, India and Singapore.

Why is Malaysia losing out so much to these 3 countries? Japan & Korea…..I think, do have a lot of successful young entrepreneurs but they focus more on their own people and not going international for now. Well, that’s just my opinion anyway. But why…why are we losing to the likes of India? Not because of population because Hong Kong and Singapore have smaller population than Malaysia.

In my humble opinion, i think there are few possible reasons for this.

Our education system is one. We’re too exam oriented (some might argue Singapore is the same) and too much spoon feeding. In our uni, we don’t normally do our own research. The lecturers will give us tips and notes. In my uni time, i’ve never touched the text books before. I relied on lecturers’ notes and i managed to do quite well.

Outflow of talents. Most of our talented people do not want to stay in Malaysia. They are everywhere in the world but Malaysia. I know a lot of Malaysians who are working in Singapore, UK, US, China, etc. All these people are smart people and they said there are more opportunities out there….definitely not in Malaysia.

Government initiatives? We have a lot of gov initiatives here and there to boost the market, and to improve our country’s standing in the world of entrepreneurship. You can find new initiatives by gov during Budget announcement. I regard this topic as a little bit sensitive since i might touch on Politics if i discuss further.

Mentality. Or is it because of our own mentality? Some of us living in Malaysia are still living in the 1970s era. We are not ready to challenge the world, not in this state. Some are too lazy…some are too comfortable with their current condition…and some are just too pessimistic to push forward.

Those are the few points that I could think of now.

Those aside, what about those people in Malaysia who have all the required attributes to achieve something big in the world of entrepreneurship? They have great mentality n good education background, yet failed to make the mark?

I was away again for 3-4 days. I went to Chiang Mai for my family vacation. As usual, I’ve learnt a lot during this 4 days trip.

I’ve bought a few items during my trip there. To be honest, one of the items i’ve bought is a cheap watch….which is actually a fake branded watch – an Omega watch. It costs me around Rm 160. It’s my first time buying fake branded stuff. My sister’s bf bought 1 or 2 for fun, so i just followed suit. Upon checking on the quality of the watch, it’s surprisingly good. Automatic watch (no battery), sapphire glass, slick design, good workmanship…….looks exactly like Omega (without the box and warranty card though).

I was very happy with the watch because it looks very nice………until i started this debate with a good friend of mine who said watches are a symbol of status. The more expensive you have, the better your social status or something and she said if cannot afford branded stuff, better don’t buy fake stuff.

Maybe that explains why some people prefer LV bags…GUCCI…Burberry…whatever branded stuff that you can think of? So that they can show them off to other people and tell everyone that they can afford?

Some might argue, they like those branded stuff because of good quality. But certain ‘fake’ stuff have good quality too…just without the ‘warranty’ part. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t support people buying ‘fake’ stuff because we still need to pay for the unique design, the workmanship, yada yada yada…. But say…those pirated stuff don’t put the real name… like for my case, instead of using the name Omega…put something else? Will it actually make a difference? Or maybe if it’s not Omega, i wouldn’t have noticed it at all?

My question is…..why do you go for branded stuff? If it’s because of good quality…..there are certain branded stuff which have lousy QC….yet, people still buy them. Those super expensive ones…do you think the quality you get is so good that you are willing to pay for the ridiculously high-priced products? Or, is it because you want to show to others you can actually afford these branded stuff……..just for the BRAND…. if yes…… why do you want to do so? To make you feel better? With the ‘fake’ things becoming more and more ‘real’…….one would start to wonder whether the RM 3000 bag you are carrying is a real RM 3000 bag…or a RM 200 bag. So, you kinda lost the point of trying to show to others you can afford the RM 3k….. unless you don’t remove the price tag.

Or you just want to have that sense of satisfaction. But don’t you think this kind of satisfaction is a bit short-lived?

And most importantly….do you think you are materialistic? How do you actually define materialistic?

p/s…. i’ve bought some branded stuff before….and i kinda regret because i don’t really see a point. If you’re talking about technology stuff, it’s quite different because pirated stuff cannot give you a lot of features. If a branded watch is so special that you cannot find the same feature elsewhere, then for me, it’s worth the money. Hmm, hope you get what i mean.

I’ve been tagged by Anthony recently. Haha, so i will reply the tag here…since it’s quite a simple one.

7 Random facts about me

1. I think more than i speak…thus resulted in…..
2. I have limited amount of hair even at this young age of 25 which might be the reason why….
3. I’ve never have any official girlfriend before. Hahahaha. That’s also because of….
4. I’ve spent 2 years on a girl…1 year cool down period….and another 2 years on another girl. Being single is quite good anyway.
5. I love to do creative stuff – from cooking to drawing to designing simple stuff.
6. I used to be a shy guy before 15 years old….never talked to any girl in my class…..but not anymore
7. I don’t watch horror movies…not at home, not in cinema because i don’t feel like paying someone money to scare me

Hmm…who should i tag now……I don’t think i’ll tag anyone. I’m not really into tags anyway.

Sorry for being away so long. Was pretty occupied with work last 2 weeks. And was busy packing up on Tues-Wed. I’m back in Malaysia now for 2 weeks vacation before going back to the cold cold country.

Anyway, i have this urge to write something about parenting today. Donno what happened to me though. LOL.

I’ve been talking about passions and stuff. And i’ve seen people my age, asking themselves where exactly is their direction…..and i’ve heard stories about people in their late 30s or 40s, changing direction completely because they realized they’re not doing what they wanted to do.

And I’ve also heard about stories about parents, dictating (not sure if it’s the right word) what their children should be doing when they are only 2 or 3 years old….or even before they are born! I’m sure you’ve heard from some people who keep saying “I want my son to be a good lawyer” or “I want to send my daughter to study medicine!” or something like that…without even considering what their children really like to do.

Then there are also a group of parents who are struggling to keep clear of the debt by working on their 9-5 job……and are feeling demotivated because they are not happy. The funny thing is, this group of parents still insist on sending their children to study in uni …get good results…get a good paying job… stick to their 9-5 job… and they will be happily ever after….EXACTLY the same thing THEIR parents used to tell them. And the cycle goes on and on.

So parents, start doing some soul searching and see if you are forcing something that has happened to you before, onto your own children. Remember, don’t make the same mistake twice.

Signing off now.