Today I Write My First Song

A historic day for me, today I write my first ever song! Hope this will be my first stepping stone into the world of music. Need to generate more positivity to the world through music. Especially in an uncertain time like this, all of us need more faith, hope and spiritual support to face the ever changing challenges each day.

Lyrics of the song:

You're the only one That we all lean on You're my mountain Perched above it all There is no other Coz you're the only one........mm There's no one above you I know because I believe You'll always be there, til the end of time You'll be there for us No matter where we are And we'll be stronger With you by our side There is no other Coz you're the only one.......oh yea There's no one above you I know because I know You'll always be there, til the end of time When everything has ended, you still be there You're the one and only, til the end of time

Garbage In Garbage Out

In computer science language, there is this phrase called ‘garbage in, garbage out’ or GIGO in short. What it basically means is that if you input nonsense or useless information to the computer, you will get faulty output as a result. The same can be said for practically everything else in life really. If we constantly feed ourselves with junk food, we will have bad body shape or even terrible health as a result.

Unlike our physical bodies which are easy to monitor as we can observe in the mirror everyday if we want to; our mind is what we have to watch out for it is less ‘visible’. If we constantly feed negative information into our mind, we will gradually form a mental perspective that life in general is just terrible. By telling ourselves that everything around us is bad (input), we end up feeling miserable and pessimistic (output).

The Christchurch mosque mass shooting in March 2019 is a perfect example of how bad input to the mind can cause horrible reaction in the physical world. In the midst of his shooting frenzy, the shooter filmed the entire process via Facebook live in an angle that look very much like a first person shooter game. By consistently feeding virtual reality into his mind, sadly it projected into reality in the real world. Perhaps this unfortunate incident may be prevented if the accused was playing Candy Crush instead.

Our mind is a very powerful tool given to us by GOD as a gift, we have to sacredly protect it, nurture it and grow it in a positive way. Think of our mind as a garden, if we are really so busy with our daily lives, we have to at least pull out the weed every now and then to prevent it from overgrown and dominate our entire garden. To go one step further is to obviously nurture the garden by applying fertiliser that will give nutrients to the soil. Our reward will be more beautiful flowers and bigger fruits in our gardens.

Proverbs Chapter 4 Verse 23 summarizes this point succinctly: ‘Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.’ How true this is! 

在电脑学里，有一个口头谈“垃圾进，垃圾出”。它的基本含义是，如果您把垃圾讯息输入电脑，你将得到糟糕的答案。我们的人生岂不是一样吗？如果我们不断吃快餐，那么我们就会变胖甚至也会影响到我们的健康。

我们的思想也是如此。它是上帝赐予我们的一种非常有力的工具，我们必须保护它，培育它和让它能继续成长。

箴言第4章第23节总结了这一点：“注意你的想法; 因它将影响你的人生。” 

Be Grateful Always

Human Traffic Light System

Looking at these old photos makes me think how difficult life must have been during those days for people to travel from one place to another. Not many people could afford their own cars back. They relied heavily on public transport or simply walk to wherever they wished to go. I’m sure a walk to the local town centre was a pleasant and adventurous trip for many back then. It could be a weekend retreat for them to get out of the house and go somewhere in their town.

For those of us who were born in the 70s, there used to be two people working in a bus – one is the driver while the other person was responsible for selling tickets to passenger. I used to take one of these buses from my house to Komtar, the city centre of Penang Island, Malaysia. There was no touch and go payment system back then, we would hopped onto the bus, took our seat, then a man would approach us asking us where we wanted to go. He would then punched the ticket with the value of our trip. After he had finished selling all the tickets to all those who had just boarded the bus, he would knock the ceiling grab rail with his metal hole puncher and shouted: “Jalan!” (let’s go in Malay) signalling the bus driver in front to move on. There was no air-conditioned in the bus but the ride wasn’t uncomfortable. The side windows were wide opened to allow ventilation into the bus and the weather then wasn’t that hot compared to today. I’ve always enjoyed those trips on the bus. You see life back then was much simpler.

Things have changed tremendously in the 21^st century. Today, there is only one person working on every bus – the bus driver. His only job is mainly to drive the vehicle as the ticketing system is now automated with the touch ‘n’ go payment machines located at both entrance doors of the bus. Buses are now fully air-conditioned and very comfortable to ride on.

It always amazes me to see how much progress we have made in mere half a lifetime. Our society has evolved to be more sophisticated with all the latest technological gadgets. Theoretically, this should make our lives more comfortable and we all should be happier. But are we?

There are more and more negative news and information on the internet and mainstream media. It appears that we are now living a much more difficult lives than before. People complains about almost anything, from politics to even the food they eat in the restaurants. These thoughts don’t seem like coming from happy people.

Perhaps the next time we catch ourselves having these negative thoughts, pause that thought and reflect back of those good old days when we were happier even without all the conveniences that are available today. Latest smart phone and all the other modern conveniences won’t make us happy. We ourselves are responsible for our own happiness. The easiest way to start this happiness journey is stop complaining, and be grateful of what we have right now.

看了这些旧照片后，我在想以前的人要从一个地方去到另一个地方是多么的辛苦啊！那个年代没有多少人可以买得起一辆车。他们依赖公共交通工具，或者步行到他们想去的地方。

对于我们这些70后的人来说，还记得在公交车上共有两个服务员 - 一位是司机，而另一位人负责向乘客出售车票。那时没有自动付款系统，上巴士坐下来后，服务员将会走来问我们要去哪里。然后他会根据我们要去的地点打票。当他完成了向所有刚登上巴士的人出售票后，他将用他的打孔器敲打天花板扶手，然后大喊：“ Jalan！” （马来语前进的意思）向坐在前面的司机发出信号可以安全开车了。那时的巴士没有冷气，但在乘客并不感到不舒服。窗口会开着，以便通风。那时的天气不比现在那么热。我每次都很享受乘巴士的旅途。当时的生活真的要简单得多。

如今，每辆巴士上只有一个人工作 — 那就是司机本身。他的唯一工作就是驾驶巴士，售票已经自动化。巴士上还装有空调，乘坐起来非常舒适。

我们的社会已经发展到科技发达和更加复杂。理论上来说，我们的生活现在因该更加舒适，我们所有人都应该更加快乐。但事实是如此吗？

互联网和主流媒体天天都有许多负面的新闻和信息。看来我们现在的生活好像比以前困难得多。人们几乎每样事情都抱怨，大家都好像很不愉快。

下一次我们发现自己陷入这些消极想法时，停下来思考一下，回想过去我们快乐的美好时光，那时我们并没有现在的所有便利。最新的智能手机和所有其他现代便利设施不会让我们快乐。唯一的方法是停止抱怨，并感恩我们所拥有的一切。

Use Social Media To Do Good

While driving home from lunch earlier, I accidentally listened to this interesting talk on the radio. This lady was sharing with the host how she created a group on social media called 'Buy Nothing'. The name of the group instantly attracted my attention so I stayed kept on listening instead of changing the radio channel. This group is created to help people passing on unwanted items to people who does need them. For example, let's say I have a coffee table that I no longer need and do not wish to just throw it into the bin, I can post this item on that group and members have the chance to bid for it. The bidding criteria is not monetary but on the reasons the bidder gives. Upon receiving all the submitted 'reasons' to have the item, I the owner of the coffee table will then decide who meets the criteria of suitable candidate to have the table. So while not create more waste to the environment, I get to help others who really need it at the same time. 

That's just such a wonderful idea! People using social media to do good as a community. Too bad, we don't see too many of this type of positive motives on social media nowadays. Every time I turn on Facebook, 9 out of 10 news feed that pop up on my phone are negative. There are more negativities hidden in the comments section. Never mind if you are posting the most delicious lunch that you just had and wished to share with other people, there are bound to be those who would comment how the food taste terrible or there is better one down the road. It's almost like people's minds automatically switch to negative mode when they want to leave comments on social media.

The more extreme case will be like President Donald Trump who constantly stokes hatred among his followers which eventually led to the unfortunate violence at Capital Hill last Wednesday. Most social media giants like Twitter and Facebook have since suspended his accounts.

A knife can be used to both carve out beautiful sculpture and hurt people at the same time. Social media works the same way. We should help stopping negativity from spreading relentlessly by contributing more constructive and helpful content  on the internet.

刚刚午餐后开车回家时，我无意中听到电台播了一段有趣的对话。一位女士正在与主持人分享她如何在社交媒体里创建一个名为“不买任何东西”的小组。我顿时对这小组的名十分有兴趣，所以我就不更改广播频道继续听下去。该女士创建该这小组的目的是为了帮助人们将不需要的物品传递给比较需要它们的人。假设我有一个不再用的咖啡桌但我又不想把它扔掉，我可以将此物品发布到该组中，那时成员们就有机会竞标。投标标准不是金钱，而是投标人需要给出的有创意的理由。收到所有提交的“理由”之后，物主就会决定谁给出的理由是最符合的。这场没有金钱的“买卖”不但不会给环境造成更多伤害，同时还可以帮助其他更需要的人。

这真是个好主意啊！如今在社交媒体里我们看不到太多像这种积极的活动。每次我打开面子书时，手机都会弹出无数负面的新闻。其他人的评论再不必多说了。就算你只是纯粹想分享你刚吃过的美食，还是会有人评论这种食物的味道如何糟糕，或者其他店比它好吃等等。

更极端的情况就像特朗普总统那样，他不断的在社交媒体向他的追随者煽动仇恨，最终导致上周三在美国首都发生的不幸暴力事件。这事件过后大多数社交媒体巨头如推特和面子书都已暂停其帐户。

一把刀既可以雕刻出精美的雕像，也可以同时伤害他人。社交媒体也是一样。我们应该通过在互联网上提供更具建设性和帮助性的内容来阻止消极情绪无止境地传播下去。