Dearest Guruji, You Overwhelm Me.

13 August 2010, Friday morning 3:43AM
I don't know what it is about my dearest Guruji. He always makes me cry.

Every time He walks into a room or into an open space, and I get close to Him, a lump would form in my throat, my stomach would get knotted up, and a surge of emotions would well up inside me threatening to explode. And more often than not, I would end up in tears. Maybe it's Tears of Joy. Tears of Gratitude for all the Knowledge and Wisdom dearest Guruji has imparted. Tears of Appreciation for bringing me onto The Path. 

I can't stop the tears even if I wanted to. And I definitely cannot explain it. It is just something that one has to experience for oneself. It sure is baffling, especially as I am not one who cries easily, and definitely not in public.

April 2008 was the very first time I got to be so close to my Guru Of Joy, during the Advanced Meditation Course in Bali. The minute Guruji walked into the room, I felt so much LOVE enveloping me! That was also the first time I was overwhelmed with emotions, and humbled by the mere presence of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. 

My Guru Of Joy :)


Today was the second time. When I got an SMS from Art Of Living teacher PW informing me that dearest Guruji will reach LCCT from Bangalore at 11:40PM, I immediately dropped everything and told her I would be there to welcome Him! It was definitely unplanned. Maybe, just maybe, Guruji had bigger plans for me? When Guruji finally walked into the Arrival Hall at 12:30am, I began to get all choked up and a myriad of strong, unstoppable emotions swept over me all over again. It must be His unconditional Love and Grace!

Guruji on CNN, talking about Spirituality


No wonder dearest Guruji has impacted and transformed millions of lives around the world, across 150 countries, for more than 25 years. And He is still spreading the message of Universal Love and World Peace till today. One World, One Family.


I am deeply honoured and humbled to be among the privileged few chosen to be Walking The Path. Me, who was never big on religion and all the rituals that come with them. Me, who questioned every dogma, every action, and wanted a just, logical and almost scientific "proof" for all my questions especially those pertaining to religion. Non-conformist me, who questioned the existence of God and rebelled against everything I was told to do especially if they can't give me a good enough "Why", since I was a kid. 

Me, religious? Far from it!

LOVE this picture. Guruji in Bali, 2008. One with the Universe!

However, my spiritual journey has only just begun...
Jai Gurudev!

Vasudeva Kutumbakam - One World Family. This video's lovely!

For more on Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and  Art Of Living,
visit http://us.artofliving.org/

Let's Move Together (Original Malaysian Composition) - Lyrics

Lyricist and composer: PW
Vocals: PW
Backing vocals: mingster

Recording date: 10 August 2010, Tuesday 9pm
                till 11 August 2010, after midnight

Venue: Angel Studio, Kuala Lumpur

Sangh Gachhatwam

Sangh Gachhatwam

Sangh Gachhatwam 

Sangh Gachhatwam

Sangh Gachhatwam

Sangh Gachhatwam

Let's Move Together

Let's Move Together

Let's Move Together

Sangh Gachhatwam 

Sangh Gachhatwam 

Sangh Gachhatwam 

Wo men she yi ti

Wo men yi tong qian jin

Wo men she yi ti

Sangh Gachhatwam 

Sangh Gachhatwam 

Sangh Gachhatwam 

We're One Malaysia

Satu Malaysia

Satu Malaysia

Sangh Gachhatwam 

Sangh Gachhatwam 

Sangh Gachhatwam 

We're One World Family

Vasudhaiva Kutumbhakam

We're One World Family

Sangh Gachhatwam 

Sangh Gachhatwam 

Sangh Gachhatwam 

Sangh Gachhatwam 

Sangh Gachhatwam 

Sangh Gachhatwam 

Sangh Gachhatwam 

Sangh Gachhatwam 

Sangh Gachhatwam

(Repeat)

Ommm...

       PW in her element. Take 1. Pre-studio recording.

Sangh Gachhatwam - Let's Move Together!

11 August 2010, Wednesday morning 03:57am

When we pool resources together, be 100 percent in the present moment and give it all that we've got, magic happens. What started out as an original song composed in Art of Living teacher PW's car when she was driving, has now become a brand new CD single!

I was so inspired by PW's beautiful voice and brand new tune when she first introduced the song "Sangh Gachhatwam" at a satsang (musical get-together) 3 weeks back, I urged her to record it.

Took me 2 hours plus to get to the recording studio - 20-minute walk to Taman Bahagia LRT station, 20-minute ride to KL Sentral, 20-minute wait for the KTM Komuter, another 20-minute ride to Taman Tasek Selatan and another hour to fumble our way to...

The place where magic was created!

Angel Studio is so cool! Everything from the amps, digital mixers, workstation, mixing consoles, editing software, guitars, drums and especially the studio design... reflected the burning passion of the talented Mr T. You can see he really loves his work. No wonder he says work is play.

Music maestros at work

T introduced us to his guitarist Razey and musical director. Then PW briefed everyone on the concept of Sangh Gachhatwam. Inspired by Guruji, this song simply means "Let's move together" in Sanksrit. As the Art Of Living believes in a One World Family, this song was originally written in 3 languages - Sanskrit, English, and a tinge of Mandarin. For tonight's recording, however, PW added a 1Malaysia "twist" to it, to commemorate Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's visit here after 11 long years.

Once we got comfy on the sofa, PW sang Sangh Gachhatwam a few times. The guitarist soon joined in and a jamming session was in place. We then brainstormed music feel and direction. And the guitarist went in to record his acoustic accompaniment. PW was then ushered into the studio to start recording.

Raw takes with T on the mixing console

While she was doing her takes in the studio, I suddenly had this crazy idea to overlap the English lyrics as backup, onto her Sanskrit chorus. Spoke to T and we decided to try it out. Yours truly ended up in the studio with PW a second time, this time to record backing vocals!

All the years in various recording studios, supervising VO talents doing their voice overs, never quite prepared me for this. Sure feels different inside in there! It's not as easy as it looks. Must be nerves :)

It was then time to record the second guitar backing - strumming this time. Then, it was over to T to choose tracks, edit, delete, layer, add in sound and musical effects, echo level and all the fine bits that make a world of difference to the finished track.

The result? Magic! Everyone put their heart and soul into this. A big thank you to PW and T for making this possible. Guruji, we have a surprise for you on Friday.

And, 6 hours later, I'm still listening to the tracks on my DVD player, with a big smile on my face.

When You Stumble Upon A Wall, Keep On Walking!

10 August 2010, Tuesday morning
(Wanted to blog last night but was totally exhausted by the time I got back. It had been a long day, and a long weekend. The moment I reached home, I actually slept right away, after a quick shower. Shocker. And slept for 12 hours straight. Must have been really tired.) 

That was the opening line from Mr Dean Letfus, one of our mentors for Sni.pr, at the 2-day internet marketing training. Conducted by Dean Letfus and Matthew Stenning, this Twa.lk and Sni.pr workshop was packed with info, updates in social media and other exciting stuff in the fast changing world of internet marketing, revolutionary strategies, "tricks" and inspiration. These two gurus held nothing back as they shared with us all the different ways to make money online.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Dean and Matt. Photo courtesy of Gary Yeow

Dean opened the session on Saturday morning to a room packed with IMers new and old, stressing on the importance of having the right mindset. In fact, it was so important to set our mindset right, he spent one whole hour drilling this into our heads.

He told us to fail as many times as possible as fast as possible. Because, failing is learning. This way, we can shorten the learning curve and fail our way to success, faster. As long as we don't repeat the same mistakes, that is. 

After all, Thomas Edison did fail more than 10,000 times before he finally made a breakthrough with the invention of the light bulb.

We were also reminded that Attitude is what separates Winners from Losers. Winners create their lives. Losers let life happen to them. The choice is ours and ours alone.  

"If it's gonna be, it's up to me". 

Also, we have to reach massive frustration before we can achieve success. According to the world's number one motivational coach, Tony Robbins, "Massive frustration and massive effort - these are the keys to success".

Young and dangerous brilliant Matt

Matt introduced a bunch of internet marketing jargon to newbies like us. SEOs. Social traffic. JVs. Affiliate marketing. Clickbank. Amazon. Adsense. Twitter. Facebook. Digg. Reddit. eBay. Directories. Blogs. Forums. And took us through a whole string of other terminologies and strategies.

We were also introduced to the concept of Domaining. What is that? Well, it is simply buying a domain name and listing it for sale. Just like one would do with a piece of real estate. This is exciting!

I will now implement what I learn until I succeed. All the knowledge in the world (and in our heads) will just remain as that, if we do not take action. 

After all...

Knowledge + Implementation = $UCCE$$ 

And, like Dean says, keep on walking. It doesn't matter if I hit a wall. Or a roadblock. If I keep walking, I will get somewhere, eventually.

Picture taken at Batu Ferringhi, Penang (Feb 2010) copyright M!NG 2010

Let's reach for the skies and soar!

Zig Ziglar sharing the importance of  Attitude, and how it can make all the difference.

When Things Just Fall Into Place...

8 August 2010, Saturday
Sometimes when you least expect it, fun things happen. Just like that. It was all just so...effortless. (There must be a Higher Power at play)!

After a sleep-deprived night and a full-day of exciting Internet Marketing training under Dean Letfus and Matt Stenning at Bukit Jalil Golf Club (will share more about what I learned, tomorrow), I received a message from my Art Of Living teacher.

PW has written a beautiful song that was inspired by our dearest Guruji (Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of Art Of Living Foundation) and asked me if I can help scout for music arrangements. Told her I got this cool friend who has a recording studio in KL, maybe he can help. So I hooked them up.

Before you know it, one thing led to another, and now we may have a potential recording session by mid next week! My friend with the recording studio agrees to help us with the arrangements, and also to let us use his studio. Thank you, T, you're amazing!

Am so excited - this song is like a breath of fresh air that will definitely inspire all at the next satsang (Sanskrit sat = true, sanga = company; Satsang = company of truth). Predominantly written in Sanskrit, this one song is sung in 3 languages - Sanskrit, English and a tinge of Mandarin. Simply beautiful. PW's soothing, melodious voice will definitely stand out here.

And, if I'm lucky, I may get some designer friends to help out with the design of the CD jacket. Can't wait to witness "history in the making" and be a part of the birth of this new creation :)

Will blog more tomorrow. Another day packed with IM training, learning more revolutionary strategies in line with the New Wave in Internet Marketing. Hope I can get more sleep than last nite.
Jai Gurudev!

Vamping Around

7 August 2010, Saturday
4:44am

Can't sleep! Popped a Xanax at 1am. Dozed off for two hours. Now I'm wide awake and tossing and turning like an egg being flipped on a frying pan. 

I've got a 2-day internet marketing workshop going on. Pick up is in 2 and a half hours' time. How on earth am I gonna stay awake for the whole of tomorrow?

It's really torturing to be in a situation like this. Insomnia is not a nice thing to have. And it's not like I want to be popping pills either. Just that, sometimes, it becomes an absolute necessity.

All my life, I've never been a morning person. Never. Even on those rare occasions that I seem awake in the mornings, I'm not really there. I don't function properly. It's like my body is there physically but my mind is snoozing in a land far, far away. It slowly stirs after noon. 

By midnight, I become fully alive. I find it more productive to do stuff then. To think. To reflect. To work, write, and do all that creative stuff. One can think better in the solitude of the night, minus the madding sounds of traffic, noisy neighbours and accumulated dins created by the rest of the "normal" world. That's just the nocturnal creature I am.

I guess this is something only fellow insomniacs can understand. The rest of the world, they just frown on it. I challenge them to be in my shoes for just one night. Maybe, just maybe, then they'd know what it's like and stop preaching...

ps: check the time this entry was written. 4.44am. 4 (or "sei" denotes death in Chinese. die...three times? creepy!

Lost My Keys. Again.

6 August 2010, Friday
Today I learned that after decades of being on Planet Earth, I do not know how to look after myself like I should. 

My housemate isn't feeling well (she's got fever and is on MC) so I thought I'd keep her company in the house and chill to some DVDs. We watched Eclipse and Angelina Jolie's "Salt".

I decided to scrap gym plans and go get her some 100 Plus as she requested. When I reached Pasaraya Sunlik (the minimart nearby), which was like 3 minutes away from my place, I realised that my house key (attached to my Nike landyard) had gone missing! 

Normal people have keys. I have to have a really long landyard stuck to my neck to minimise the possibility of losing my keys. Even with that, I can still lose things :-(

Last year, right after my birthday dinner and karaoke session with some friends, my friend had dropped me home at 4am - what a time to find out I had no key to enter the house. At that time, I was staying alone. I was not only locked out of my own house, my friend had to drive me to 7Eleven to buy toothbrush and toothpaste and toiletries, and I ended up spending the night camping over at my friend's house. Thank God for Irene.

So, I'm not really good at staying alone. Really admire those super independent souls who look like they've got everything under control.

Anyway, after going round and round my area (and back), twice, I finally found the key and landyard lying on the road near the guardhouse. What a relief!

Mental note to self: Must LEARN to look after myself and my things better from now on. If I can't even look after myself, how can I look after my friends and the people around me? Also, if I don't look after myself, no one else will. It's my life, for which I have to be responsible.

Apart from that, it's been a rather uneventful day.

Dinner At Swensen's

7 August 2010, Thursday
Just got back from a really late dinner at Swensen's. It's been 3 years since I last went there, so I thought I'd satisfy my sudden week-long craving for some Sticky Chewy Chocolate :)Ended up feasting like I haven't eaten in days. Well, since it was my 3-in-1 meal of the day (breakfast, lunch and dinner rolled into one), no wonder we overate.

First, the starters...

Prawn Dippers - RM13.90

Fried Mushroom - RM9.90

Generous portions of prawn dippers (fried wanton) and fried mushrooms, dipped in mayonnaise. Only thing missing was the Hoegaarden (I wish)! The shitake mushrooms were fried to perfection - not too hot, and not oily at all, unlike some.

After sharing the starters, we were ready for our "main course"...

Mac 'N Cheese - RM18.90

Creamy macaroni, dripping with cheese. It was satisfying all right, just a little too filling. Maybe we should have had something lighter like Aglio Olio.

Then, came the best part. The ice-cream!

Frosted Choc Malt - RM17.90

Suat had the Frosted Choc Malt. Rich and thick, with a malty taste, it was quite nice. Except, I prefer the...

Sticky Chewy Choc - RM17.90
+5 Malt Balls - RM2.00

...Sticky Chewy Chocolate with Malt Balls! This sinful chocolaty delight is what I've been craving for! Chocolate ice-cream, engulfed in choc fudge, with a sprikling of choc chips and a dollop of whipped cream. To top it off, I added chocolate malt balls. Every chocoholic's fantasy. Ah, this is heaven!

After tax, the bill came up to RM92.60. Pricey for a Swensen's "dinner". I don't mind, as it's my first time in 3 years.

OK, I'm stuffed! MUST head to the gym tomorrow for Body Combat. And maybe RPM and some weights training, if the weather and time permits.

Sony Blu-Ray blew me away!

4th August 2010, Wednesday
(this is my third attempt to write. first two entries were wiped out. PC crashed. I miss my Mac :-()

Today, I went to a friend's place to test some of the Blu-Ray DVDs I'd bought recently. (Yep, I got BR DVDs but not the player, don't laugh!

Played on his Sony Home Theatre System, the movies literally jumped to life. He had a 46-inch Sony Bravia full HD LCD tv mounted on the wall, complete with 6-piece surround speakers (woofer, mid speaker, and front and back surround speakers), plus a Blu-Ray DVD player. Yep, it's.a.sony.

I have a similar sound system at home, minus the Blu-Ray player. And my tv is just 40 inch as my living room is not that big. Never knew 6 inches would make that much difference, but it does!

So now you know. I'm a Sony freak. Everything in my living room spells Sony. Even the wireless headphones. And PS2 :)

The DVDs I brought were mostly from the martial arts genre. Ip Man 1 and 2. Dragon Tiger Gate (Loong Fu Men). Ninja Assassin (Rain's abs is HOT). Hitman. Daredevil (not exactly martial arts but action packed all the same).

The only exception was Michael Jackson's "This Is It". The Blu-Ray version is packed with extras like The Making Of, Thriller and Smooth Criminal featurettes and vignettes, Auditions, Costumes, Interviews and Behind-The-Scenes footages, plus an Interactive Playlist as well.

Hmm...just how long does it take for one to watch an entire BR dvd, I wonder.

The sound system was just awesome, especially the booming bass. Just as I remember it when I watched "This Is It" at the cinema in Penang last year.

We were jesting about and saying things like, "Look, almost 3D!". Could even see the beads of sweat on one of the kungfu exponent's face. Serious.

I knew I should have listened to my inner voice to upgrade to a BR player, instead of saving on that miserly RM500. Aaaarrrggghh...regret, regret!

Am now on a mission to scout around for a Sony Blu-Ray DVD player. S370 perhaps? No idea what I'm gonna do with the existing one that's barely 6 months old though.

Any suggestions on where I can get my hands on a good deal?