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WE’re really getting there. We are currently in the process of owning our ideal, affordable, dream home. This is very exciting news for us both!!

This weekend’s been pretty good one except for the splitting headache I had after waking up from our unplanned afternoon nap. Man, that was nasty.. Especially when the pain hit hard when we were on the way out to shop! All better now.. A dose of subscribed medicine was all it took.

I’m still sticking to my ‘total make over budget’. So far so good. Reading about ESQ helps. It’s taught me how to retain and develop desirable traits. It looks like I’m making progress in the personal finance area. Home ownership is next on my list (although I’ve already bought a home, I’m referring to owning our ideal dream home - and that is within grasp).

Yesterday, watched ‘It’s a Boy and Girl Thing’ or something like that. Hilarious romantic comedy! It’s such a relief being able to laugh like that.

Got work tomorrow. Things are definitely going well at work. I’m thankful for that. Ditto for things at home

Man, i’m writing rubbush..am seriously thinking of becoming anonymous in the blogosphere. i have this thing about people knowing all about me. and to think that i used to want to become famous and popular.. harhahrhar.. now it all don’t matter. what matter’s is that i have a family, a good job (for now) and that we’re all happy.

gnite!

Tags: Personal by Me Rina
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I am back to reading novels… I do that when I want to escape into a world of fantasy. A world where the fictionous characters are a part of me. It’s alot like watching a movie except I get to choose how I want my characters to appear in my mind. To drown myself in their adventures, feel their happiness.. to escape..

Some days I feel like going into anonymity. I just want to write and not be known. Maybe I should start a new secret blog. I have alot on my mind. Many of which I can’t bear to share here. Doing so would be violating my own privacy. It would be rather silly too. I guess I should just write it on paper then burn it for my own satisfaction of having written.

It saddens me that I can tell no one…

I have a few chapters to go before I complete Paulo Coelho’s ‘The Zahir’…

Tags: Personal by Me Rina
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I’m back again after a short hiatus. Today I feel like blogging. Just now while driving home from work my mind was dictating the words to myself as if on autopilot. I don’t remember all that was dictated. But I do know that I want to tell you about the pursuit of happiness.

Last night, I’d watched ‘the Pursuit of Happyness‘ starring Will Smith and son, Jaden Smith. I didn’t have a box of tissue handy throughout the movie, so I ended up using my sleeves during those moments of intense deep emotions. The story based on real life had touched me greatly. Even as a woman, I could feel for Will’s character. The pain of having to sacrifice for your loved ones.. I understood that very much. I also understand how frustrated his wife (character) must have felt at her husband’s lack of income and ability to bring back the dough.

My husband watched the movie and he could see himself in Will’s character. My mom who lives a couple of miles away watched the same movie and she associated it with how absolutely hard it is to find a job.  We all watched the same movie but attached different emotions and situations to it. I find that to be rather amusing.

As for my pursuit of happiness… I have one to achieve this year..oh no.. actually more that one come to think of it. I have 3 goals to achieve in May and one in June 2008. My pursuit is also another someone’s pursuit. To think that someone’s happiness could actually depend on you is a heavy burden to carry. I hate to say I’ve become used to it because that wouldn’t be telling the whole truth. I guess it’d be fair to say that I feel rather uncomfortable. But at this moment in time, it’s a responsibility I must carry.

If someone’s happiness depends on you, could you actually make someone truly happy? If someone depended so much on you for his happiness what kind of person would he be? What kind of person would you be? Very unhappy or pretty much exhausted because you’d constantly have to check up on each other, one reporting and the other giving instructions as to what  would make him happy.

As much as I love psychology, these matters of the heart and mind leaves me pretty confused. Sometimes I don’t know what to expect or feel so in the end feel just plain numb. And that’s not too good a feeling. I am a positive person. I want to feel positive all the time. I want to only depend on myself for my own happiness. Why wait for someone else to make it happen for you when you can make it happen for yourself more than twice faster and make yourself more than twice the times happier.

I love me.. I care for me.. Allah the Al-mighty, protect me and my loved ones. It is only you Allah the all Merciful that I  can depend on..

Tags: Personal by Me Rina
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I shall be getting a new chief boss at my place of work this week. I’ll also be losing my immediate boss. Today’s his last day here yet he’s still hard at work. He reminds me so much of my own father. One who gives his job/career full comitment and is forever trying to lighten the burden of others.

I hope things will stay ok even after he’s gone. He’s been promoted to a better position at a different place. Somewhere closer to his home. At a place where he’ll gain new and more joyful experiences. Perhaps an opportunity to travel more.. and definitely more money in his pockets.

He may not be reading this. I doubt many people I know read my blog anyway (I’d rather keep it that way - For some reasons, offline friends get awkward online - hope the same doesn’t apply the other way round.). Regardless of that, I would still like to congratulate him here (have done so offline) and wish him the very best. May he have success always. I’ve never found a boss better than him. Then again, I haven’t been in this service for very long. I only had one other boss but he is by far the best.

We’re all gonna miss him for sure. And the bosses remaining will have to buckle up and get ready to do more work once he’s gone. For, for as long as he was here, alot of work were being piled up on him because he is seen as one who delivers. It really isn’t that fair on him since it’s not like he gets paid for doing the extra work. But God is fair. And now he’s handsomely rewarded. Alhamdulillah..

 I hope our new chief boss is super nice. His son is one rising star.. We’re all (the whole office) is giving him (the father) a warm welcome.

Tags: Personal by Me Rina
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I’ve been working hard on this one. Who was it that told me the first three years of your marriage is the hardest? Well she may just be right. Knowing this, it also make sense to stick together and work on it, nurturing the relationship to bring it to a more mature level.

 To me, marriage is about love, respect, trust and responsibility. I really do admire the couples who make it past the golden years.

I have been putting a lot of effort into making our marriage work and last. And without my other half cooperating, it probably would not have been easier.

Discovering how the law of attraction works has been a blessing to me. These days, I am much calmer, I notice how I react to incidences and try my best to control my emotions.

I wake up every morning thanking Allah for everything I’ve been blessed with. I pray every day that I’ll be taken closer and closer to my goals until they are finally in my grasp.

For couples who are thinking of tying the knots I would highly recommend that the following issues are discussed and resolved before embarking on this great journey of love:

1. Issue of where to reside - buy your own home, rent, stay with family..

For me, we planned differently but as our plans were dependent on another person, so were the outcome. So I suggest you make a plan with outcomes that you can control so the both of you would be happier.

2. Financial planning - have you saved enough?

Start your marriage with good credit. Planning your daily, monthly and yearly budget is totally a must.. Also make sure you set aside part of your income for savings. Impulse buy is never rewarding. It’s lead us to alot of debts and also an unhealthy lifestyle since we have be forced into a more frugal life now that we’ve realised our mistake.

3. Family planning - when to have your first child.

What preparations will you need to prepare you for parenthood? Read, read, read!

4. Chores delegation

Who does what based on who is good at what and who likes to do what.. this will avoid the ladies ending up doing everything and asking the why me question.

Why am I listing all this? So that my bachelor friends and my younger bros can learn from my mistakes.

But all in all.. it was a mistake well learned. I’m praying that our marriage is stronger than ever as a result of coming out of it.

Yes, for my husband (and son) I am willing to:

- move into a more favourable home,

- further my studies in UK,

-work in this service a tad longer,

- control my emotions,

- become a more loving person,

- cook more meals at home, and

- pursue my passion!!

When you do something for others, apart from feeling great you will often be rewarded with better. And this I am experiencing first hand :). Here’s to a better life!

Tags: Law of Attraction, Personal by Me Rina
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I’m due for an update! Geez, I’m finding it not easier to write a post these days. I suppose it has to do with me not concentrating on one given task before jumping to the next. I need focus!

Lately I’ve been thinking about how I can give back to my parents. I got the idea from our country’s recent election - instead of thinking, what the ruling government can do for us? think, what can WE do for our country..

So yes, back to my parents.. my mum doesn’t have any specific wants. According to her, she’s got everything she needs and everything she ever wanted. She just wants more respect. I’ve been dropping hints that she could make more money and earn more respect by compiling her yummy recipes from round the globe into an easy to read manual for first time cooks - I’d be the first to buy it from her!!

Now my dad a very hard working, respectful man who’s dedicated his life to support his family and provided each one of us with the best he could offer. I think he very well deserves to have the house of his dreams. But how can I, having not yet acquired my house of dreams do something to help him get closer to achieving his dreams? Well I could come up with a brilliant business idea that I know my dad is capable of doing. More in the line of writing a book. Afterall, my dad’s a fabulous writer and editor. I’m trying to get him to blog as well. And yeah, he still needs to complete his PhD dissertation before he can have a Dr. before his name. He doesn’t have a Dato’ ship but I did manage to bring his level up to ‘datuk’ by bringing into the world his first grandson.

My dear, dear parents.. what more can I do for you..

Tags: Parenting, Personal by Me Rina
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Two months have passed and it’s time for me to review my goals again for the year. The purpose of doing this review is for me to see how much I’ve achieved in the previous two months. Let me just go through my list:

1. Success University Program:

I’ve slowed down on it’s promotion a bit though I know many more people can benefit from the program. My main goal for SU is ofcourse to earn recurring income from it. The program alone is great and the monthly newsletters and cds/dvds keep me motivated. As for enrollment, I’ve managed to enroll a few prospects however I am still in the process of finding the right people to pass on the knowledge to. By that I’m referring to people who are really serious about succeeding and acquiring riches with the program. I guess it all points back to me in the sense of how far I myself am willing to go to advance in ranks. This needs more working on. I need to find passion in Success University (right now my mind is on the postgraduate program I’m eyeing at Brunel University) and reconnect myself to it.

2. Financial Goals

I have managed to keep track of my daily spending in my diary. I find tracking purchases and expenses help keep it under control. I find myself buying only necessities and even when I eat out, I tend to seek the cheapest eateries/food stalls. Reading Alan Corey’s experience to become a millionaire by the age of 30 is pretty inspiring. Although his ideas are more suited to those who are still single, his drive to save money and earn more has made me wanting to do the same. I’ve also been devouring various other books on finance, wealth creation and investment. I find them rather addictive and will keep on reading books in this category for the rest of the year to increase my financial knowledge (thus putting me in the right path to financial freedom). I can already see how I’m going to fund our new home and still be able to invest in unit trusts (managed to find good agent). I have also already bought insurance and still have some amount in savings which I will need to top up.

3. Blog for WAHMs

My dreams of becoming a work-at-home-mom is still undergoing progress. I had intended to come up with an ebook on interviews with successful Malaysian WAHMs to find inspiration from them and for others. Have to start working on this. So far I’ve managed to interview Sandra Rocco of Miabambina.

4. Becoming an Independent Certified Instructor for BabySigns(Malaysia)

It’s another income earning opportunity I recently found. I’ve actually been wanting to be certified as an early childhood instructor since last year. At first I thought maybe hypnobirthing would be a good niche (though that’s not early childhood). But then babysigns came along and since my son is still at the right age to teach baby sign language, I am thinking, why not? (Yeah, SaiF - Why not me right?;)) It’s double opportunity for me to teach my son the useful skill and earn extra teaching others. So I recently returned my completed application for this and now I have an interview with Jamie of BabySignsMalaysia. Now that’s rather exciting

5. Plans to further my masters degree abroad

I have finally decided on a program (anthropology of education) and university. This will be finalised after I attend the UK Education fair end of this month. I’ll be able to meet up with my chosen university’s representatives and get to find out more on the program. Also still keeping a look out on the scholarship offer.

Wow, it looks like I have alot to focus on already other then my day job which I am still dedicatedly working on. I realised that I just reviewed my goals based on my written goals for last year and not the new goal I set out for this year. But it hasn’t changed much and I am progressing a bit with baby-steps.

Phew! This was good exercise to keep my momentum going. I’m glad I did it. Sharing it with others only puts me in action mode since I will surely only want to report back positive outcomes. To quote from SaiF of SaiF Improvement, here’s to Constant And Never-ending Improvement (CANI)!

Tags: Blogging, Personal, Personal Development by Me Rina
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My husband and I have come to an agreement as to the house we’ll call our home. I’ve blogged about this several times. Quite some time ago I dreamt of an even more luxurious dream home. But I’ve dropped that dream. This house we both found to our liking is far more real. I am so tempted to put up a photo of our soon-to-be home here but I always say that (I’ll put up a photo) and hardly get around to doing it. I suppose I’m a more wordy person who prefers to display her visions in words instead of pictures. So I won’t mention wanting to put up any photos unless I make it a point to really get around to doing it. Deal.

So our dream home.. How should I describe it.. It’s located in the current golden triangle of the state I’m living in. Close to my place of work and hubby’s. Not far away from my family and his. Supermarkets, hospitals, banks, police station etc just 10 minutes away. Yet the place is serene away from the highway though can be seen glimpse of it from the busy roads. The house is very modern designed with an open concept - no walls in between living room, dining room and kitchen (hubby likes this very much). It is a teres link appropriately priced in a themed neighbourhood surrounding gardens with excercise equipments, children’s playground and jogging track. Double gated community for peace of mind (which we will be having to pay for..).

All this will be ours soon (ok, let’s be more specific: our target is before end of January 2009)! Insya Allah..

Tags: Personal by Me Rina
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Last weekend was spent hanging out with my son. I kept myself away from the PC. My son deserves to have my full attention. He’s grown up so fast. At one and half years, he’s already gotten a good understanding of our mother tongue. He understands a few words in English too and can say words like ‘car’, ‘now’ and ‘cat’ perfectly:) He’s also shown increased capabilities to build his own toys using the lego set I bought him. And he’s always seeking for my approval in anything that he does. That’s how a child learns. I treasure every moment I spend with him.

I’ve been thinking about which field I should pursue my masters degree in. After some thoughts and endless browsing through of MBA brochures, I’ve decided maybe I’m not up to doing an MBA. I feel I should be doing something more related to my degree in the field of human development. Maybe more on child development or family ecology. The reason I’d previously wanted to do an MBA was for the business, finance and entrepreneurial knowledge that it covers. But I could always learn that else where and not have to compete with others who already have basic knowledge. It’d be more fun that way. So my search for the most suitable university still continues.

I also visited the site for a house I’m eyeing to buy towards the end of this year (when it launches - it may be as soon as June). The houses look 70% done and the show units are beautiful and very much to my liking. I shall be visualising this house everyday like I have been for the past few months.

As for my shelf full of unread books, I’ve managed to start reading Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover. From the few pages that I’ve read, I understand that financial planning is a crucial part of life. No matter how much money you earn, if you don’t budget your spendings there is always a tendency to overspend foolishly. But we all know that already. Regardless of that, we still have to learn methods to go about budgeting, saving and investing. And this is what Dave covers in a book that has embettered many lives. Having gone through a bad financial experience himself makes Dave an even more reliable teacher. Hmm.. it looks like I have to still cut down on more expenses and earn more on the side. As for buying a new house, I’d have to sell my old one first. The new one will be an upgrade as it’ll cost more that the current. But if it that’s what it takes to restore and maintain harmony in our household I am more than willing to pay for it. And we shall live in that house which is just the right size for our family and not have upgrade anymore unless we can really afford to.

Yeah..that’s our plan for now..

Tags: Personal by Me Rina
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I have a confession to make. I just love helping people. Now I’m sure that’s not quite the confession you were expecting. It may even sound as if I’m being a bit of a brag about it. And I know that there are many more generous souls out there.

However allow me elaborate further. I love helping others especially those who are in need of help. Unfortunately, sometimes the ones that seem to need help don’t want to receive help or even go to the extent of resisting any offer for a hand.

So why even bother trying to assist these poor souls? Because some of these people may have some kind of impact in your life. But then ofcourse that’ll happen only if you allow it too. But what if the one that’s in this low state is someone close to you, living with you? You go about trying to make their life better only to have dirt flicked back into your face. When that happens you feel all your efforts unappreciated and you back off, dejected and decide to give the other a cold shoulder. Why make an effort to stay nice? It won’t be long till it’s your turn to snap. That’ll just create a nasty cycle, sending unwanted vibes bouncing into the universe and coming back at you till oneday you wake up and think you can’t handle this no more. You want a better life. So you decide to make changes now by altering your state of emotion. And it always works. As easy as it is to go into a lowly stately, it’s easier to get into positive vibes.

So yeah..what is it that I’m rambling about tonight? Guess I’ve just had a bit too many cups of water to drink and it’s getting to me. Ok, will sign off for now. Tomorrow will definitely be a better day. I’ll make it so.. Am missing someone..

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” - W.W. Ziege

Tags: Personal by Me Rina
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