Money not equal to happiness?

Money not equal to happiness? A read in KC Lau blog has put me in deep thought. Research show that people with more money is not necessarily happier than their poorer counterpart. How about financier or money related book which always emphasize on the importance of money and it is always better to have more money than less? Isn't it self contradicting when you say money does not make one person happy but on the other hand say something else. I am in such a dilemma now.
True enough, money alone does not make a person happy. This is because happiness require multi-factor such as family support, friend network, loving spouse, fulfilling carrier etc. Money can certainly get a lot of things done more efficiently but doesn't guarantee happiness in long run. Not having money however can make one suffer too. So in the end, one must have all-money, family, friends, spouse, career and the list go on. So the conclusion is human are always greedy!!!

5S

It is finally here!!! The 5S infection has infested the whole Malaysia!!! Thought I manage to escape from it after transfer out from my previous workplace now that my current workplace is implementing 5S all out!!! Meaning you do all the work and pay all the money but all the glory will belong to the company. Anyway, there are some pros to this such as cleaner and more comfortable workplace and subsequently increasing the productivity.
5S basically stand for seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu and shitsuke. The culture originated from Japan which intend to introduce cleanliness and tidiness to the entire organization in hope of improve work performance. Studies has shown that cleaner and tidier place does increase the overall efficiency. From Fengshui point of view, throwing away all the junk will also clear out the negative chi and welcome positive one.
I hope that we can sustain this spirit for a longer time instead of hangat-hangat tahi ayam.

Fake Birdnest!!!

VJ bought my mother a box of birdnest all the way from Sabah for her birthday present. According to him he bought it for about RM500++. Yesterday my mum finally decided to cook it for us. She spend the whole day cleaning it (extracting all the bird feather inside the birdnest) before cooking it for us. To our biggest surprise, the birdnest totally dissolved and disappear in the water. Worse than that, it emits some weird ammonia pungent smell. We did not finish the birdnest and throw it away. I told VJ about it later and he was pretty sure the birdnest he bought was genuine. After reassuring him he got the fake one, he sounds a bit distressed and promise to call back the seller for refund. If not he will take this case to the consumer right association. Hopefully he will get his refund or else it will be the most expensive flour he ever paid for.

Wedding card

I started sending out my wedding invitation card since yesterday (1st day of August in lunar calender). Basically I am inviting most of my close friends from work place, physio, school etc. Estimated about 6 tables filled with friends of mine and VJ.
The questions arise when thinking of who should be included in the list? I am only inviting close friends as it is a small wedding of around 15 tables.
I really hope all the friends that i invited will turn up as it will be wonderful to see all my close friends attending my wedding ceremony. I also hope that my friends are all happy with the arrangement that I made. Lets make it a beautiful wedding.

Korea here I come

I am attending a Korea sponsored course next week from 13-15 Sept. I am planning to go there earlier to explore what Korea has to offer. As they only provide accommodation during course, I've booked their hotel Young Dong. Places that i planned to go are such as palaces and their street. Hope it will be a nice trip:) I am also planning to go Bali for my honeymoon right after the wedding ceremony. The honeymoon villa there all look amazing as they have their own private pool and full isolation. Hopefully it is as nice as promised. The fact is that its been a while since I travel and I really miss it very much. Hopefully I can get to travel more often.

Time is essence

With so many things to do in so little time, how do I divide the remaining time for my wedding preparation, exam preparation, while attending my physiotherapy on top of other things. At this time I am simply overwhelm by all the tasks.
At the moment, all I can think of is I simply have too many things to do and I don't even know where to begin. I have to finish all my works before I go on a course and take leave on my wedding. I simply have too much to do. 24 hours a day and 7 days a week suddenly felt not enough.
I've even made out little calender on what I should do and perhaps I should start writing down what I should achieve everyday. I think at the moment I simply shouldn't waste any more time on thinking the unnecessary stuff and just focus on the big thing.
I must channel all my energy and time to achieve my plans and stop accepting new plans at the moment. My goal now is to make sure the wedding is a success and follow as planned. I hope to excel well in my exam too so I can get the increment which I need.
I want to start right now and stop making lame excuses. Let's get the ball rolling!!!!

Painful experience

The pain is almost chronic, making one headache if not. It is like having a bone stuck in your throat, only worse. Yes, I've felt the pain before and it went away after a few magic pill. It is back again to visit me......
I've been having the toothache for almost 3 days. At first it felt like an ulcer but i suspect something worse. My prediction was right when the dentist I saw today told me the tissue around my wisdom tooth is swollen and i have to get it extracted!!!! Meaning I have to do a minor surgery where they will make a small incision and pull/drill it out (the little monster). The fact is that i never thought i need to pull out my wisdom tooth judging I've already extracted out 4 teeth for my braces. Guess either my teeth is too big or my jaw too narrow, I still need to extract out my wisdom tooth. Since you can withdraw odd number, guess i will have another 4 teeth lesser (Left with 24 teeth). Errrr.....
Coming back to the story, the dentist prescribe metronidazole, amoxcillin and mefenemic acid to reduce the inflammation and pain. I hope after it subside, it will NEVER, EVER come back to haunt me in my life again. But i guess as long as i leave it (wisdom tooth) there, it will keep coming back again and again until I do something about it.

The most difficult time of the day

The most difficult time of the day is when waking up. I start work at 7.30am and it takes me around 1/2 hour to travel to work. That means i need to get up around 6.30am to prepare. To be honest with you I am the "late person" which means i like to stay up late and wake up late too. People describe me as the "Owl". Asking me to wake up 6.30am everyday is basically asking pig to climb the tree. However i manage to do that by setting my alarm clock at 6.15am, then when it ring, i will change it to 6.30am and so on until it is too late before i wake up. Finally i will wake up and left around 10 min for me to brush teeth, wash face, eat breakfast, change clothes etc.
I can only hope to have a job which i can wake up naturally and go back after few hours of work. Until then, i guess i just have to adopt the "early bird get the worm" theory.

My Dream Home

Today I went to view house opening by XXX developer with my parents. When my parents ask me is it I want to buy the house, my answer was like not necessary need to buy house only see house ma. No offence but i think sometimes it is good just to explore nice property and see what are the offer outside.
So we drive around cheras and finally found the place. It was a 3 storey bungalow in fenceless community. Of course they have a big guard house just before you enter the housing. The design is simply marvelous not only exteriorly but also interiory. The best part is that they actually have swimming pool and a lift. Why would anyone need a lift in the house, can you imagine the maintenance work you have to do? They even have gym and sauna in the house. Each room is beautifully designed with own themes and a story to tell. I particularly like the bathroom as it has those hotel feel of fully marble wall.
After the viewing, we found out that the minimum starting price is 3.X million and you can get the show unit with only 5million. Wow, imagine if i pay 10% downpayment, i have to fork out almost 300-400 K and pay back bank 14K every month at the rate of 4% interest per annum. That means one have to at least earn 30k and above to afford as they still have to pay at least 2K for maintenance and another 1-2k for electricity (including the lift and sauna plus plasma TV in each individual room).
Eventhough i still can't afford the place now but it definitely give me a motivation to work harder so my dream to own it can be closer. Or maybe i can buy the place now and turn it into spa. By charging my guest for swimming pool, gym and sauna, who knows i can just make enough to pay off.

Properties

Buying property can means preserving the value of money, making investment or even achieving dreams for some people. Property prices has rose to higher than ever and it will only keep on increasing. We can conclude that buying a property is definitely a smart investment that everyone who can afford should be doing.
However, looking for property in KL, can be a real hassle. Not only one need to spend alot of time on research and investigation, he/she has got to pray a lot too. Currently i am learning how to invest wisely in property by asking around and reading up myself. I found out I first have to answer to a lot of questions as to what type of property i am looking for, is it for own use or for investment, who is the tenant i want to rent out, which area i am interested in, etc.
Types of property
Landed or high rise, bear in mind eventhough landed property has higher chance of appreciation, but rental yield is generally lower. High rise on the other end can give higher rental return but one should take into account maintenance fees, electric/water bills, lawyer fees etc. Should one buy completed or still under construction property?
Reason
Do i want to buy the property for personal use or for investment purpose? Of course if for own use i will prefer to choose a location that is away from hustle and bustle of city. If for investment/rental then i must choose prime location whereby it is easy to rent out.
Tenant
I must target which group of people do i want for tenant? Is it newly wedded? Expatriate? Students etc. Then only i can buy a property nearby where the future tenants will be most.
Area
I guess one should do the most study and research this area. Which area one is looking for, what is the market price, how is the prospect of the development in that area, is it nearby supermarket, or school or is it near industry area?
Others
Of course there are many other aspect such as loans, financing, feng shui etc.
After calculating to the last bit, i guess what one can do is hope and pray.
Anyone who cares to share?