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Books of November
Book #1
Do Hard Things : Why We Got Resilience Wrong by Steve Magness
The writer redefines what “TOUGHNESS” actually mean.
Unpopular opinion – a coach getting his players to train so hard that they vomit; or soldiers being put through various physical exercise until they can’t go on is not what toughness is. The late Kobe Bryant’s blackout workout came to mind.
It is actually what we have in our mind; the tenacity, persistence and resilience that differentiate one tough person from another.
I enjoyed reading the first few chapters as the writer gave several examples and case studies in real life. Currently at 40% progress, I am starting to feel like I am reading a psychology book.
Will see whether I can toughen my mind out to finish the book; or just leave and move to my next read.
Book #2
E-Myth Revisited : Michael E. Gerber
Second time read. I did not finish reading it the first time years back. The difference this time is that the words made more sense.
Like an amateur learning how to cook from the menu book; goes on to do it in the actual kitchen, notes the outcome, re-read the menu book and notices the things that could have or should have been done to make it better.No matter how bad or unfair you think life is, sometimes all we need is just a little nudge to point us to the better direction.
Stay hungry, stay safe.
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Financial help for normal people
08 Nov 2022. Tuesday. 645am.
After my morning workout I stopped at my local pump station. The plan was to clean up my windscreen and grab a $1 coffee.
Looked up as the machine was whirring and saw the new price –$2 (S), $3 (M), $3.50 (L).
100% increase!
Later at work I went online and checked the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) website –Cash target rate @ 2.85% and Inflation @7.3%.
The average fuel for Ron91 is currently $1.90 in Perth Metro.
In July 2021 we did a 5k return trip to Broome; the average price was $1.40 in Perth Metro. Even the northern part of Western Australia where the prices can get astronomical, the most I spent was $1.82.
Among Benjamin Franklin’s famous quote was “Nothing is life is certain certain except death and taxes.” If he’s alive he might add inflation. So what can normal, medium wage earner like you and I can do?My amateur advice would be these :
1. Take a deep breath, clear your mind.
Set a timer for 3 minutes, close your eyes and clear your mind. Just think about your surrounding – the birds singing, the clock ticking.
2. Grab a pen and paper, list down all your money going in or out.
Get your finances in order; spend sometime to list down all your bank details, know where your money is coming and going.
3. Get an advisor.
A “reasonable” one would be from a good book and would cater to your local circumstances.
If you are in Australia, I highly recommend that you follow Scott Pape – The Barefoot Investor.
If you feel like going on the “offense”, I recommend Ramit Sethi (I Will Teach You To Be Rich).
I have both books but feel that some of Ramit’s contents are better if you are in the US.
I have benefited from their books and ideas as well as a few other writers.
A few years back I was quite burdened with debt; I was jobless, tried to start a business (that didnt work) and in between jobs.
You have to get out of your comfort zone. You need ideas that challenge your financial believes. You dont have to agree to all; but take what is provenStay hungry, stay safe.
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Review : Swatch X DragonBall Z Majin Buu
As I have purchased the 41mm and 47mm, might as well get the 34mm right? Wrong!
Disclaimer – just because it’s not for me, doesn’t mean its a bad product. I can’t wear my 5yo Spider-Man shirt, does that mean its a bad product? No.
You just have to find something that you like and would fit you. You are unique. Just be yourself; everyone else is taken.
Anyhoo, back to the watch.
The quartz ticking could be the loudest between these 3 sizes.
The watch as a whole is quite fancy and playful; a mix of purple, bubblegum pink, white, black and yellow.
The crown, bezel & dial is yellow with the letter M in black for Majin Buu.
The packaging box has the Kid Buu; looking menacingly at the distance; – maybe at their ridiculous prices 😀
The inside of the strap has the partial scarf & tummy of Good Buu.
As expected, the strap is small but surprisingly feels less elastic compared to the 41mm n 47mm models.
I love the packaging I love the design but the size is just not for me. My wife thinks it looks silly and quickly made a generous offer to take it off me. Hah! Nice try.
I reckon the size, colour and design fits my 12yo daughter better.
Could Swatch actually come up with the designs but provide the option to have it in the size of our liking? Say I like the CELL design but in a 41mm size? I assume it’s possible but most likely would not work commercially.
The Swatch Group has done a good job with producing 3 different sizes and different designs to cater for various market. Of course there will be people asking for other characters like Piccolo, but you can never satisfy everybody, can you?Size (mm) Likes Dislikes 34mm Nice design, pretty packaging Too small, 3bars water resist. 41mm Perfect size. High entry point ($150), 3bars water resist. 47mm Unique packaging, lightweight 3bars water resist, 3bars water resist. My personal summary in a nutshell So that’s it folks; I did the “ultimate” sacrifice of trying out three different sizes from the Swatch X DragonBallZ series; watches that I bought with my own money and tried for the past few weekends.
The quicker I accept the fact that these watches are more of a fashion statement, the better. I am so used to my Huawei Band 6 robustness, practicality and functionality that it takes a while to switch my perception on these Swatches.
I find myself getting more comfortable wearing it and actually look forward to Fridays (these are currently my weekend watch).
Hope these basic info and my personal experience would help you to be more informed especially if you are planning to get just one watch from the series.Stay hungry, stay safe.
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10 things I learn from House of the Dragon
I finished the first season of the popular TV series, House of the Dragon (HOTD) last week. This red background is just me paying homage to the sigil of the main house, House Targaryen.
Set 200 years from the events in Game of Thrones, these are a few things that I learn from watching and observing the TV show.
WARNING- possible spoilers ahead.
1 . Tough environment <breeds>
Strong people <breeds>
Peace <breeds>
Easy environment <breeds>
Weak people <breeds>
Tough environment.
Cycle continues.
2. Parents love knows no bound.
Parents can be impervious at times to their child fault. Some parents could see everybody else’s child is at fault except theirs, even if sometimes it was an obvious mistake.
Parents can be dumb.
3. Kids are dumb.
I say this in the most loving albeit cynical way.
Be you of royal blood or peasant, kids just wants to play and enjoy.
Scientist says that our beautiful brain does not fully developed or matured until mid to late 20s.
Kids are dumber.
4. Unrestrained, unfiltered, blind love if dangerous.
Our heart is not fully ours. Our feelings and thoughts can change overnight.
Love in moderation.
5. Leadership is not an enviable position.
Imagine being watched over 24×7; all your movements monitored to ensure your well being. You can’t even go to the toilet in peace.
You also don’t really know who is there to help you, taking advantage of you or just plain dumb.
Being a leader is lonely.
6. Do not assume anything.
Some people, due to their kind nature, prefers to go about with their words in delivering long winded speech. This could cause more confusion as different people has different world view.
Speak clearly, ask when in doubt.
7. Common sense/patience wins the day.
Doesn’t matter how big or strong you are, you can always be controlled by someone with more brain/sense (man/boy controls a more powerful, stronger dragon).
Do not let people take you for a ride.
8. A strong leader always prioritise the well being of their subjects.
Princess Rhaenyra repeatedly refused to go to war, even as everyone around her urged to do so.
The reason? One of her title is “The Protector of The Realm” – going to war would cause more death and calamity.
Take time to think clearly before passing any judgement.
9. Life can be black or white; but at times it can be grey.
In the race to replace the king, people have to choose between the reigning princess in waiting or the first born child who were suddenly thrown into the limelight as the new King (the first born initially did not want to be the king).
Who would you choose in this situation?
Sometimes the best option is to move away…far away.
10. Death will find you, even in fortified towers
No matter what age, status, wealth or health you have, none will save you when the time to meet your Lord has come.
Having all the money in the world would not buy you even a second extension when it is time to go.
We always leave home in the morning, with the assumption we get to be back home at night.
We don’t.“Indeed, Allah [alone] has knowledge of the Hour and sends down the rain and knows what is in the wombs. And no soul perceives what it will earn tomorrow, and no soul perceives in what land it will die. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.”
Quran 31:34Stay hungry, stay safe.
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Review : Swatch X DragonBall Z Goku
After (not) much deliberation, I caved in and ordered the second Swatch x DragonBall X watch within days.
Weak!! I know, I know.
But my curiosity got the best of me this time. I consider it my….. late birthday present? (my wife would heartily disagree)
My concern about getting a large size aka 47mm size watch is :
1. It would look hideous; like I borrowed the watch from a giant friend.
2. I will have a bigger bicep on one arm due to the weight.
I am happy to report that none of it happened when I put it on. The 47mm size watch doesn’t overshadow my thin wrist; nor was it heavy causing discomfort. Still have that same plastic design/feel with the 41mm. Still the loud tick for a quartz watch.
A bit bulky so I can’t store it lying flat like the 41mm. It has to return back to the original case for safekeeping.
White dial with the first Kanji character for Goku in black. Minute & hour hands are in orange – I could tell time better compared to Vegeta Swatch. Easy on the eyes.
The signature “Swatch Swiss” is printed on the watch crystal itself.
Goku & Vegeta – side by side comparison The colour scheme is nice – orange, blue, white black.
The strap is the design of Goku’s uniform.
Back of the strap is just plain orange with his flying cloud, Kintoun.
Fun fact #1 – Just knew about the name Kintoun. Back in Malaysia it was translated to “Awan Guling”.
Fact #2 – I just realised (after 30+ years) Kintoun is yellow coloured as we were reading it in black and white.
Water resistant is the same at 3 bar; no swimming or showering if you plan to keep it for a long time.
Worth the AUD195 price tag?
I have mixed feeling about it. If you are a fan, I reckon you might be ok. Feels like the cool kid; with an orange watch visible for others to see.
A part of me did wish it would be slightly cheaper, maybe around the $150 mark RRP.
Nice packaging. 41mm and 47mm done. Should we do a 34mm next?
Stay hungry, stay safe.
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Review – Swatch X Dragonball Z
This Swatch theme was released in late August 2022. Supaaa cool! Found mostly unboxing videos on IG, TikTok & Youtube shorts. Looking for an honest review, not those “suck-up because I got it for free” review.
Enjoyed reading these 2 writeups from my first Google page (here and here). Still I wanted more info – how it feels like, is it worth the money spent bla2. Considering I am new to this watch-collecting world.
I missed out on the collectors box (only 997 of them made). At the time of writing its fetching between AUD2,700 to AUD5K. There is even one listed at AUD46,000! Yup, not a typo there.
Are you deluded?🤣 Obviously I was late to the party but that is fine. We still have the opportunity to get all 8 watches in the theme. In a nutshell the Swatch x Dragon Ball theme comes in 3 sizes. Click on the names to head to the official page :
47mm @AUD195 each (Shenron, Goku, Cell)
41mm @AUD150 (Gohan, Kamesennin, Vegeta),
34mm @AUD120 (Majin Buu, Frieza)
I decided to get Vegeta, the BAD BOY. You know what they say about pretty girls always going for the bad boys?:> Initially sold out online so I contacted Swatch Australia in Melbourne. The girl said there is none in stock and offered to put me on the waiting list. I thanked her but said its ok.
Checked again on Wednesday night and it was available. Completed my order around 6am AWST Thursday. Came back from lunch on Friday and there it was, the package on my table. Super efficient!
Dislaimer : this is just my amateur, unpaid review. Also this is my second Swatch and I do not claim as an expert in the matter of watch/Swatch collecting.
His power is over 9,000! The watch feels plastic, through and through. Lightweight, doesn’t feel much different from my $68 Huawei Band-6 watch. It has different designs on each side of the strap.
Water resistant level listed as 3 bars. This essentially means YES to splashing hand washes or rain; NO to swimming, showering, diving or fighting in Aquaman’s realm.
The red watch crystal resembles Vegeta’s eye view as he looked at Goku’s power level.
The strap has Vegeta’s battle uniform.
The inside strap is Vegeta in his gorilla form.
My thoughts of dealing with Swatch online and after wearing this for a few days :-
LIKES
Easy online checkout, fast shipping, proper + secure packing (3 boxes, need I say more?)
The colours are well balanced and striking at times; my co-worker said her eyes kept getting drawn to it every time she passes by my table. Chick magnet alert!
DISLIKES
$150 I feel is a bit on a high side, considering it just looks and feel like a plastic watch. I assume it goes into the licensing, packaging, advertisement, free shipping and other costs.
The red and black combination makes it hard to tell the time; several times I struggled to look for the hour/minute hands.
Its a quartz watch; the ticking is quite “loud”. While driving by myself without the radio on, I could hear it ticking.
My cute small wrist makes it slightly difficult to get the correct strap whole – at hole #3 its a bit loose; at #2 its slightly tight to my liking.
Would I buy again from Swatch Australia? Yes.
I am contemplating to get the whole collection (the 47mm swatch has a prettier packing box). I guess that’s the problem with a former toy collector mindset; we sometimes look too much on the exterior aesthetic.
Time (pun intended) and my bank balance would tell.Stay hungry, stay safe.
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Slow Cheetah
I noticed that as I slow down on some things, I get to experience things at a more deeper level. Such as the music I am listening to; I tend to pickup some sound that I never knew was there before.
Nope, I’m not bragging about my paltry sound system setup. (I actually just found out the existence/function of an optical cable:)
I am currently listening to :
Friend is a Four Letter Word – Cake
Charlie – Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Mantra – Dave Grohl, Josh Homme, Trent Reznor
Actually that could be “was listening to”. I misplaced my earbuds a week ago. Prompted me to cancel my Youtube Premium subscription as I can no longer listen to my downloaded video/songs in peace. My eldest moaned as he could no longer watch Youtube, ad free.
Weird but interesting would be how I describe this experience. I initially drafted a post to talk about looking at things differently as you slow down on things, but it came out as a book review 😀
I guess my mind is all over the place; I just needed an avenue to release it in and hopefully produce regular blog updates.
Stay hungry, stay safe.
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Tick and Tock
In primary school, I had an Alba watch (ALBA – close to the name of the current Aussie PM). Bet you millennials never heard of it. In all honesty, I just Googled it and surprise, surprise – the company is still in business!
Found out it was established in 1979 as well, so we are of the same age. I don’t know what happened to the watch; could have lost when I went to boarding school. Or maybe the battery died and we did not replace it.
What I do know is that I would wear it when I head over to play with my friends in the late afternoon (5-ish). My parents idea was plausible – get this boy a watch so he would be back before it gets dark/Maghrib (630ish).
Come on – you don’t really expect that to happen, would you?
My parents would be sitting at the front porch, gazing intently on me as I make my walk of shame back home. My late dad would quipped , “Even with a watch on, you would still manage to come back late?”. I believe this was my early exposure on being cynical. I don’t really get it at the time, but sometimes my kids say I’m really good at it.
Later on, I caught glimpse of a Swatch watch. I can’t remember exactly when but it would have been gold-coloured that straps like a bracelet. I have been wanting to own a Swatch for a while, like 20+ years maybe? There’s just something about the vibrant colours that caught my eyes but never had enough pushing factor to get one. I just felt content looking at phone, or just asking around for time.
Last July, I finally got my first Swatch! Woot-woot!
We were in the midst of our 6 weeks travel in Malaysia. It was not a planned purchase. Innocently waiting for my family doing their shopping at Genting Premium Outlet and, lo and behold, the Swatch shop was right in front of me. I exited the shop with mixed feelings.
It is nothing fancy, but I am happy. Little do I know that this won’t be the last time I get one. More on it later 😀
Whats with that smirk? 😀
Stay hungry, stay safe.
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Goals are for losers
Back in 1999, I had a presentation during my English subject. The topic was setting goals and targets to have a successful life. Feels ironic to have a totally opposite title for my blog entry.
“How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big” by Scott Adams (creator of Dilbert comic strip) could be the first, if not a handful of books in my Kindle collection that I read more than once.
I re-read it for the second time a week ago. Chuckled as I went through my earlier notes, at times beginning to understand some points. It sounded gibberish before. He reiterated that as a comic book writer, the so called advice in the book should not be taken too seriously – one should always consult a professional.
In a nutshell, he encourages one to look at failures in a different spotlight. We tend to avoid failure so much that we missed the fact that there is actually a lot of things to be learned from failures. For example, he failed his food business venture – but through it he learns what would work and what wouldn’t. Through it he gets to know processes, people etc. This would then helped him in the future if he plans to do a similar venture.
Goals are for losers. One should have a system; where you would have a routine on something. You would continue doing it on a regular basis; doesn’t matter if it rains or shine, doesn’t matter which side of the bed you woke up to. You just wake up and do it.
Before Dilbert was famous, he would get up really early (4-5am) and do his sketches before getting ready and heading to his office job. This would go on for years. This way when opportunity knocks, you are well prepared to take full advantage of it.
Its amazing how we start to see things differently if we take the time, no rush and repeat it. We don’t have to like it, but just understand it. Understand how the world around us it not so black and white; but could be greyish. At times so grey you can’t tell whether it borders the black side or the white side.
There is a part which talks about affirmation; I have different thoughts about it that I might share on a different post.
By the way this is not a paid book advertisement. I got this on sale (AUD4.99) on Amazon and find it to be an interesting book. One does not have to like everything he reads, but it certainly doesn’t harm if it helps you to see things in a different perspective.
Stay hungry, stay safe.
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One On One
Lately I haven’t been faring nicely in my 1-on-1 basketball sessions with Zarif. He is gaining frequencies and confidence in beating me. In a session last month it was 7-6 and 5-4. Slim margin lost – glad I didn’t bet on paying for his new shoe.
Not gonna lie, losing bruises my man ego. But I am also happy and proud of his progress. Gone were the days where I could simply shove him and get an easy underbasket. Instead of me, he is the one being a teacher – showing me how to correct my guiding left hand while shooting, or a proper hesi (pretending as if you are shooting the ball, to get your defender jumping).
It takes me out of my comfort zone, which is good. I thought of adding some extra kilos, maybe bulk up a bit so I would have this weight advantage. Just post up and show him who’s the boss.
I realised this could be my new super power – eat more and lose less. The mathematical side of my brain tells me this also means revamping my wardrobe; so I decided not to. I’d rather spend it on more useful stuffs; like a Lego modular building or a Dragonball Swatch:D.
I have seen people being biased when assessing their child sports skills. I prefer to let others do the talking. If he’s good, then he should/could play. If not, then he should be receptive of an advice or when someone tries to correct him. As a parent I try to instil humility in my kids – at times it is hard to differentiate humility, confidence and cocky.
He’s not great per say, but he can play. Currently he provides a healthy dose of competition to me so I could keep pushing myself to be healthy. It also forces me to rethink my health regime holistically – how I deal with training, injuries, diet, weight training.
I pray for health and longevity so we could continue having this friendly bout. Maybe with a different sport?
We got balls🏀…literally. Stay hungry, stay safe.
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Kammys Musing 