Rant & Raves

Ever since the time I saw the brand new Honda Accord, I had fallen in love again with Honda.

Don’t be mistaken. I had have a long relationship with Hondas. My first ever car was a 1992 Honda Civic Hatchback, and I had loved the Honda design, the motto, the handling, and especially the sweet VTEC engine.

You can say that I have the racing boy blood in me. I do admit that when I was much younger, I used to drive recklessly fast, zig-zagging through traffic, passing and squeezing my way whenever there was someone blocking my way. I even tried squeezing in-between 2 cars on a 2 lane highway, and successfully overtook that two cars, and most importantly, preventing the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 8 (or commonly known as Evo8) from chasing me.

Anyway, I am getting older (not sure about the wiser part), so nowadays my taste are leaning towards sedan. Don’t get me wrong, when I see the sports cars my blood will circulate faster and I still get excited. But for my own ride, I prefer something more luxury and comfortable with plenty of handling and power on tap. That’ts why Toyota is out of question, at least for me.

According to some inside source, the Honda Accord will be officially launched in April / May period in Malaysia, and the first car will be delivered in June. Why the delay?

Apparently the higher management are still deciding on the accessories and pricing of the new Honda Accord. There might be a small chance that we will get the SatNav (or commonly called Satelite Navigation, or GPS) and the price is still slightly (very slightly) lower than the biggest competitor (if you don’t know which carmaker or model, ask).

The biggest competitor has captured a big share in the market for this segment of cars, so Honda Malaysia will do their best to recapture the lost market.

So this is definitely a good news for all of us. For me, my wish list is for the same money, I can get the following:

(1) Satelite Navigation,
(2) High Intensity Discharge Light (or known as HID),
(3) Keyless Entry

I hope Honda Malaysia will hear my voice and give us all that for the same money that can buy the competitor’s car. If you happen to work in Honda, forward the URL to the management or something. If you know someone high-up in the hierarchy ranking in Honda Malaysia, forward them the URL as well.

So why am I writing about the brand new Honda Accord?

Well, hopefully early next year I will be driving one. That is my planning, my wish, and my dream. Hopefully I will be able to achieve it, and once I do, I will keep you guys posted!

Wish me luck!

Disclaimer:
All the pictures above are from Honda USA website.

It was during a business trip to Singapore that I met her.

A colleague whom based in Singapore invited me for dinner at China Jump (now defunct) and it was a calm night, with the moon shinning above us quietly. We had our sandwiches and beer, and there was this table of girls sitting near us. We did not pay much attention to them in the first place, concentrating on the issues at hand, like work, food, and beer.

China Jump is a place where they serve food from 6pm to 9pm, and after 10pm the indoor will become a clubbing area whereas outside will still serve food.

Then I saw her. The girls that were sitting near us finished their food and drinks, and they got up and walked into China Jump at 9:30pm. While they were walking in, I saw the big eyes looking at me, and I looked back at those big eyes. Those eyes were big, crystal clear and have an unexplainable aura in it. My heart skipped a beat and my breath was stopped for few seconds when I saw those eyes, and under her mesmerizing stare, the place seemed to be asleep and dreaming, rendered in the silver-and-black palette of most dreams, every object as insubstantial as smoke.

Without knowing how, I was inside China Jump as well. After ordering our drinks, there I saw her again, standing with her group of friends near the bar area, wearing a black spaghetti tube with white dot marking, her hair flowing like Turkish silk and then, she turned back, and stared at me. Her stare was like a ray of sunlight in the dark dessert, piercing right into my inner soul, warming my hands and legs, and then, she smiled at me.

I was stumped.

I had had experiences with women, and certainly I am not the shy type, but under the mesmerizing eyes and the warming smile, I was stumped, and I didn’t know what to say or what to do. All I could do was trying not to look stupid or clumsy while looking at her, and smiled back.

Then, her friends pulled her to another side of the area whereas my colleague pulled me to the bar area, and I was clearly disappointed. I have to entertain the colleague but my heart was clearly over to the other side. I tried to peek but she was nowhere to be found.

While talking to the colleague, and ordering drinks at the bar, I working on getting my courage to walk over to her, and planning on ways to introduce myself without sounding too desperate and stupid. Suddenly I felt a hand patting on my shoulder, and I looked back. There she was, standing behind me, smiling at me.

My knee grew weak, and my colleague was saying something, which I could not hear, and I just looked back. She extended her hand, and I held her hand into mine. Her skin texture was soft and smooth, and the handshake was the first contact we ever had.

We introduced ourselves, and I got so nervous that I was acting like a complete idiot. I tried to order drinks for her (actually it was more for myself as I needed the alcohol to calm my nerves) and yet it turned out the bartender was giving me a few pieces of napkins. Then she laughed. That was the first time I heard her laughter, and it was like a bell in the middle of a field, clear and attractive.

She invited my colleague and me to her group of friends, and we agreed. For me, I was mesmerized by her and I would follow her to wherever she goes, and for my colleague, it was more for the purpose of the 3 girls in her group. We performed the formal introduction, and then I kept looking at her and dancing near her, whereas she danced near me.

The timing was good, and everything was going well. Except one thing.

A girl came out from nowhere, hugged me and introduced herself. I was stunned and I was screaming inside, “Oh come on! I am trying to pick up a girl and you are here hugging me and trying to pick me up? There goes the first impression….” Then the girl pulled me behind her while she was giving me the erotic butt-smooching-your-tool dance, rubbing and grabbing my hands and guided them to explore her body.

I turned and looked at those eyes. She looked back and laughed. After only a brief moment, I struggled and escape from the octopus where gentle massaging my ego. Yes, it was a nice compliment but it came at the wrong time.

Then, her friend was getting in my way as well. This girl was talking to me, and playing with her hair. Yes, the signs all pointed to “Flirt with Me!” but my concentration was like a bull charging towards the red flag. I brushed her friends off with ease and proceeded to pursue my target. Those big crystal clear eyes.

Finally we had some time for ourselves, talking, dancing, all in good manners. But the time flew by with speed and without waiting for us, and it was time for goodbyes.

Yes, this is our first encounter.

The other day E asked me a really good question. “What is driving you? Where do you get all those drives?”

Well, drives are from within, your deep desire and thus wanting to achieve thoser inner desire, the drives give you all the energy to go on even if you fail, fall down, hit the ground with a thud. But you will just get up, pause for a split second to think of the mistakes, and continue doing what you do.

The reason E asked me that question was because E’s daughter was going for an interview and the interviewer wanted to find out what drives her. So E came to me and asked me since she found that I am the only person in the whole company with a shitload of drives. Anyway, in order to help her, I came up with an email to send to E’s daughter.

—————————
From: Adrian Ang
To: xxx@xxxxxx.com
Subject: What Drives You

Dear J, I had heard from E that you needed some guidance on answering those interview-questionaires and particulary on the “Drive” issue. I cannot claim that I am expert in this but I can try. First of all, you have to understand that the key engine that is driving you is unique. Not everyone has the same driving force within and I simply cannot just tell you on what to tell the interviewer. So this will be a long process to discover on what’s driving you. Check on the list below on common driving force within:-

1. Money
2. Fame
3. Satisfaction
4. Security
5. Recognition

Fame as in you want people to follow you and adore you like a movie star. Recognition can be defined as being known in the industry, and recognize your contribution to the industry/company and also community. I don’t think I have to explain much on the “Money” but Satisfaction and Security are both very different.

Satisfaction is your job satisfaction and this is a very wide definition. It can be something you have done and you are happy with it, and it can also include the paycheck amount. Some people see Satisfaction as a fulfillment in personal goals, like having a challenging project and you come up with a great victory, or something like that.

Security, on the other hand, is for wuzz and that means they are scared of being fired.

There are two ways to answer “So tell me, what is your driving force or what’s driving you.”

It can be your personal answer, or the something what the interviewer wanted to hear. If you want to answer your true driving force, then go ahead, discover the 5 items listed above and list down which one is the most important.

If you want to answer what he/she wants to hear, then you have to study the interviewer during the interview and see what kind of person he is. If he is aggressive, I would say Fame and Recognition. If he is those very nice guy, then I would say Satisfaction.

“My driving forces are my desire to do well in each responsibilities I was given and my desire to contribute to the company and the community. Of course, during the course of these contributions, I would like to be recognized as some one important in this industry and also be rewarded financially so I don’t have to starve myself while working really hard.” (say this with a faint smile) (NOTE: Sometimes they will ask you on how you contribute to the community. My answer? Meaning that I shift the trend in the field, or started something new, going extra miles and set the benchmark as high as possible so our competitors will have a hard time following us)

That’s what I told the interviewers if that’s what they wanted to hear.

Hope this helps and good luck!

Rgds,
Adrian
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Darn. I am good!

This morning when I woke up, Maria was beside me and we talked for a bit before we prepared to go to work. I was still very sleepy and I tried to get a 5 minutes nap before brushing up…

Maria: “Baby, I didn’t sleep well. I got a very weird dream.”

Me: (tossing around to get 5 minutes nap while acting concern and sincere) “Oh? What was it about?”

Maria: “Oh… it’s really weird…”

Me: (still sleepy) “Okay.. but how weird is weird?”

Maria: “Well, I dreamt that I strike first prize in the lottery….” (both of us don’t buy lottery)

Me: “Oh that’s great and sweet. So what happened?”

Maria: “And the jackpot as well….”

Me: “That’s even better! How much is that add up, baby?”

Maria: “Jackpot is 16 millions, and first prize is 3 millions…”

Me: (realized she was talking about Dai Ma Chai now) “Oh that’s great baby. So did you have a good shopping spree?”

Maria: “No. In the dream, after I collected the prize money, I dump you.”

Me: (fell off the bed and hit my head) “What? Ouch!”

——————————————————-

I made the above story up. Maria never had such dream. I repeat, it never happened. I made this story up because I am damn bored.

So what would you do if you do win the first prize in lottery?

According to some satistic, 90% of those people who won the lottery will end up deeper in debt and more broke than before they won the lottery. Well, these so-called experts explained it as easy money, easy go. That’s true. A lot of those dumb asses just buy new cars, new house, or even new wives when they won the lottery, as if the money will last them forever. Another thing I witnessed before was that some guy won a big construction contract. But the problem is, before the money comes in, he bought a brand new BMW 5 series for the wife, and he bought a Benz S class for himself. He already bought those shits and at the end, they are spending their future money.

This is so-called Free Ride. At least they had the moment of rich and wealth, even if it was just a short ride, so they will end up spending more money hoping to strike gold again after they went broke.

Now I wish to get a chance to taste this kind of richness.

(Maria: “You wish to win the lottery, but you never buy one single piece of lottery ticket!”)

Ooops!