“One ought to plan a second career while an existing one is in works. ” I thought I came across this assertion early on during my readings.
Looking back, theres not just a kernel of truth in this, but loads of wisdom embedded. Here are my takeaways for this:
Short sightedness or thinking of today only, not tomorrow. The moment we dont think about what the future lies ahead is the time we stop pursuing matters which might be useful one day. For example, if one is skilled or passionate about certain hobbies, why not consider building it up while one is employed. When the time is ripe, one day, that hobby can become a source of income. Some people call it gifts, some talents. Regardless, when one is pursuing matters aligned to their gifts, then one does not seem to be working at all, but having fun fine tuning their passion.
Most people only think about growing, building and sustaining a career, but seldom focusing on switching careers. Growing, expanding a career of choice is good, provided this aligns with ones passion, talent and skill. For every attempt to grow is also an attempt to polish rough edges, opportunity to perfect etc. So it is important that ones career path matches do ones strengths. Else the time spend to growing, building would be to waste.
Work vs passion vs calling. Early on, a person needs to know what is considered work, passion and calling. The 3 may be inter related and inter changeable. But most important of all is that one ought to begin with ones calling early on. How? Find our where people are most blessed by what we do. For example, if people find you skillful and can produce polished products, then by all means pursue a path in building those. Or if people are blessed by your talent to coach, counsel or even offer an advise or two, then pursue career paths along those lines. With one life to live, it is imperative this discovery early on ones life be realized.
It is futile to think that because one lives long, that one can experiment and take chance on working a plethora of skills until he/she finds what truly makes him/her ‘happy’.
For me, happiness after all is doing things that one loves and enjoy. Time becomes a limiting factor, because when one enjoys what he/she does, there is no way one can stop.
What do a Malaysian working in Singapore and a young couple trying to start a family have in common? Cost of living!
Yes, this morning as I was rummaging thru the headline, this 2 articles caught my attention. In fact, it could be an AI run sequence of articles as a person is trying to get thru his browser.
Nevertheless, lets do the math and compare how ‘difficult’ things are these days 2024.
Twenty four years ago, when I was starting out as a senior engineer in this country, 18 % (750) of my monthly income goes to flat rental. That leaves about 5% (200) going to my transportation, 2.5% (100) to my phone bills (no internet, just landline), about 2% (200) to my utilities, 5% (200) to my income tax. Lets assume I peg the groceries to 25% of the income and incidental, misc or entertainment to 2.5% (100), this totals to about 60% of my income on monthly expenses, the balance 40% on savings. Hence I was able to save for a house downpayment in a matter of 3 years. Since I was very young, I dont need so much cloths, nor do so much house maintenance since were renting . Forget about self care since free sports is available out there.
These days, the breakdown is totally different. My car mortgage is around 14% of my income, my tax is about 11%, phone bills at 4%, utilities at 3%, food and groceries at around 30%, gas and car maintenance about 5%. School expenses to about 3%. So this totals to about 70% of my income. Where does the balance 30% go ? Cloths, house maintenance, self care etc.
After my covid days July 2022, this time the symptoms are a bit more than usual
Day 1, sunday, jan 8: rorys bday! The usual bday preparation started with a trip to grocery and buying ingredients. Felt sluggish, with bad/painful throat. The whole morning was spent lying in bed while wife prepares dinner. The bday celebration went successfully without any hitch. My daughter in law gave me zinc and vitamin C in the evening. Got myself tested prior to facing my inlaws during the party. Feeling better now I said…
Day 2, monday, jan 9– first thing to do is consult doctor for sick leave paper. Got myself tested- negative. Well this is probably a mild case of low grade flu i said. Had breakfast with wifey. Then went home and just rested. Picked up Rory during lunch time and went home afterwards. Many liquid remedies were given by my daughter in law and wife. Ginger tea with manuka honey. My throat feels better every time i take those concoctions. Cooked brunch made of potato and carrots for the young family.
Day 3: tuesday, jan10-sent rory to school as usual and lie in bed afterwards. Took wife to the grocery store and bought lunch for my son and his wife. Too tired to cook i said. My throat is getting more and more painful. Finally in the evening I took the anti inflammation at medicine. on the contrary, i Did not sleep almost due to body heat.
Day 4, wednesday, end of my sick leave. i sent rory to school during a rainy morning! On the way my tummy went crazy. It feels bloated and so painful. I was soo nauseous that I had to abort driving and let my daughter in law drive. I had myself tested and behold – solid line positive! Jeez, this is it I said, all the while this bug is causing my unusual body joint ache (mild), severe throat pain, and unusual body heat, heat. The weird thing is I dont have a high fever compared to a normal flu. I just slept the whole day with occasional bfast lunch dinner interruptions from family members. Symptoms wise, my body is really very heaty and every now and then I would sweat. Finally in the evening I took panadol so I could sleep better.
Day 5 Thursday Jan 11: I began my day with feeling the heaty body and continues profuse sweating. Im still feeling weak and nauseous. My runny nose continues as well as that pesky dry cough. For the first time, my taste has gone south. So I ended up sleeping almost whole day in bed that by night time, I tossed and turned due to my dry cough spell.
Day 6 Friday Jan 12: I feel slightly better overall today. So I ended up cleaning and dusting my room. Aaah that feels good I said. After which I rested and slept. By lunchtime, I picked rory at school and bought takeaway food from KTPH hospital. On hindsight, I shouldn’t have done this, why? A since few days later, Rory has been infected during this brief encounter! 😦
Day 7Saturday Jan 13: my sweaty body and heaty body continues. For some unknown reason, my coughing intensified. I can almost feel the pain started from my upper sinus areas, upper throat and now goes lower and lower my throat. My worry is that this indicates the virus going down the trackway to my lungs. Another unknown symptom, I had a headache at lunchtime. So I sleep again during the day. My cold feet continues. Still zero taste bud. To feel not guilty, I went to dry cloths to the laundry wash.
Day 8Sunday Jan 14: my headache is lesser today. But my sweaty body and cold feet continues. Coughing continues. My runny nose is better. I continued to take medicine to make the phlegm thinner. I cleaned my room and toilet and bought more test kits at Greenwich Guardian. Of course while here, I tried my taste buds and to my surprise, its slowly coming back.
Thursday Jan 11: I began my day with feeling the heaty body and continues profuse sweating. Im still feeling weak and nauseous. My runny nose continues as well as that pesky dry cough. For the first time, my taste has gone south. So I ended up sleeping almost whole day in bed that by night time, I tossed and turned due to my dry cough spell.
Friday Jan 12: I feel slightly better overall today. So I ended up cleaning and dusting my room. Aaah that feels good I said. After which I rested and slept. By lunchtime, I picked rory at school and bought takeaway food from KTPH hospital. On hindsight, I shouldn’t have done this, why? A since few days later, Rory has been infected during this brief encounter! 😦
Saturday Jan 13: my sweaty body and heaty body continues. For some unknown reason, my coughing intensified. I can almost feel the pain started from my upper sinus areas, upper throat and now goes lower and lower my throat. My worry is that this indicates the virus going down the trackway to my lungs. Another unknown symptom, I had a headache at lunchtime. So I sleep again during the day. My cold feet continues. Still zero taste bud. To feel not guilty, I went to dry cloths to the laundry wash.
Sunday Jan 14: my headache is lesser today. But my sweaty body and cold feet continues. Coughing continues. My runny nose is better. I continued to take medicine to make the phlegm thinner. I cleaned my room and toilet and bought more test kits at Greenwich Guardian. Of course while here, I tried my taste buds and to my surprise, its slowly coming back.
Thoughts on reading the scripture for January week 1
The mention of the Nephilim, or beings that were sired with the intermarriage between fallen angels and the beautiful women from Adam’s lineage. Wikipedia says that “The Nephilim ( Nəfīlīm) are mysterious beings or people in the Hebrew Bible who are described as being large and strong. The Hebrew word Nephilim is sometimes translated as “giants”, and sometimes taken to mean “the fallen ones”. Their origins are disputed. Some view them as offspring of fallen angels and humans. Others view them as offspring of the descendants of Seth and Cain. My inquisitive nature is triggered to find out what these beings were, their significance, if any, and any relationships that they may have in the Goliath lineage. Read 2 scholarly articles and come away with more questions than answers.
2. The cataclysmic flooding and historical facts surrounding it. Reading Noah’s Flood paved me to watch again on Graham Hancock’s Netflix on the Apocalypse and how an advanced civilization may have existed dating back to the ice age. His compelling work that took 30 years of his life is so undisputable that modern archeologist have named him pseudo
We are all actors on the global stage. And as thespians, we are bound to follow what the director wants us to play and role to perform.
In whatever strata of society we belong to, we are always performing a role. Example, if you are on a medical and service related industry, ones role is vital in order for a service to be rendered.
In the case of say a manufacturing environment, ones role is crucial as well especially if you are part of big moving object.
Either way, our roles, and how we perform against the expectations often defines how we measure success or failure.
Ultimately, the yardstick of ‘success or failure’ lies in the eyes of our family members, who, day in and day out, know us inside out.
Mark Boado Blog 