Hey everyone

I’m traveling again. I was in Singapore for Ming’s birthday on Wednesday night when I learned I was going to flyaway again on Thursday morning (straight from Singapore).

Ended up flying off to Thailand on Thursday morning only to land there and shop for the clothes, underwear and socks that I didn’t have a chance to pack for the trip. Haha cool huh.

While I’m away though check out this video that got me laughing lately.

Sheep

I actually don’t know if to laugh or cry. I feel happy and sad at the same time but well check it out for yourself and tell me if you laughed or cried.

Saturday was a really busy day for me. Spent the whole day at this training I had to attend. Was up from 7AM and my training ended only around 6PM. So Sunday was a day I decided I was going to do nothing but nua at home.

It turned out to be quite the opposite. I spent Sunday morning working from home.

My friend Melissa came down from SG so I went to Pavilion with her. My other friend Leon ended up joining as well …. and he ended up wearing the same pants as I did. What are the odds of that?

The later part of the evening for me was spent at the Mister Potato Viewing Party for the Manchester United vs Everton match at Sunway. There was a huge crowd of Man Utd supporters there. It’s true when they say sports unite people. Because when I walked in with my Man Utd jersey, all the other fans of all race and ages gave me a smile. It’s like they knew were … together.

There was a long queue getting into the viewing at the Sunway Lagoon amphitheater.

The viewing was well worth it though.

I estimate to be about 1,000 people there so the atmosphere there was the closest thing you could get in KL to the atmosphere at Old Trafford. You could tell they were ALL Man Utd fans. When Everton scored, there wasn’t a hint of cheering but when Man Utd scored, the crowd erupted in loud cheers.

Eventhough Man Utd needed the win badly, the game ended with a 4-4 draw.

It was an awesome game to watch though. I admire the perseverence of Everton.

After the game ended with a draw, the crowd looked disappointed but nobody looked more disappointed than the 2 Man Utd legends (ex-players) who were watching the game with us.Gary Pallister and Ronny Johnsen.

Mister Potato brought them over so Malaysian fans could meet them and watch the game with them. I never expected to really meet them that afternoon. At first Pierre asked me to meet him at Pyramid for dinner before the game. I thought we were going to eat Nandos or something so I just wore my jersey and shorts. Then when I was there he told me “Dude I think we’ll have dinner at the event. We can have dinner with the Man Utd Legends there”.

I was like “Thanks dude… gimme less notice next time!”.

For a minute there I nearly wanted to run into Sunway Pyramid and buy a pair of proper pants or something but Pierre told me it’s okay.

It was awesome meeting these Man Utd legends. That made my Sunday (eventhough we drew).

How was yours?

I recently saw this latest Nestle TV commercial and it brought back loads of memories.

This year Nestle celebrates its 100 years as a company. While I don’t necessarily feel an emotional bond when a company hit 100 years, I did with Nestle. When I look back at my 27 years of my life, Nestle has been there all the way, creating fond memories of my childhood that I will forever cherish. Look at the full list of brands that are under Nestle and see if it evokes a kind of nostalgia in you.

Here are some of my childhood memories growing up with Nestle.

1) Maggi Mee

I never really enjoyed my primary school days. I went to a private school in Penang called Sri Inai that started at 8AM and ended at 2.50PM every day. That means we would even have lunch in school. I didn’t like what I studied and the only fun I had was playing around at recess or something even during class. I did look forward to one thing every day after school though. I would get home about 3.30PM or 4PM. While still dressed in my school uniform I would then make myself a nice bowl of Maggi Mee. My parents were cautious about letting me go near fire so I always made it with my microwave and I loved it.

As the months went by though I started taking pride in my Maggi Mee and got creative. I added eggs and even cheese in there (looking back now it seemed to simple but to me then it was like an achievement). I would then lay the hot bowl of Maggi Mee on my dining table and properly arrange the cutlery, pepper and soya sauce around it. Then one last thing I would do before I slurped the noodles up… was turn Cartoon Network on what used to be a service called Mega TV. Anyone remember that?

That 1 hour of Maggi Mee wasn’t just a meal for me. It was like my little reward to myself for having gone through a tough day at school (even though looking back… again it wasn’t really that tough). But it was good. Today I still have my little Maggi Mee treats with the egg in it, but I do without the cheese. Rather than having them in the afternoons now, I now have them for late night suppers whenever I’m hungry.

2) Milo

We all grew up with Milo and today I drink Milo much more than I drink Coke or any other drink. I had two fond memories with Milo

i) The first one was outside the HSBC in Beach Street Penang. When I was still in primary school, I would sometimes have to follow my mum to the bank on Beach Street. That was something I hated doing. Because I would just have to go there, sit there and wait for her while doing nothing. There was no iPhone or iPad to play with then… and I couldn’t exactly bring my Cartoon Network to the bank.

The one thing that cheered me up though was on days where there would be a Milo truck parked right outside the HSBC on Beach Street. I can’t even remember if we had to pay for it or not but I remember tasting the refreshing ice cold Milo that came out of it. It was awesome. At home I would often try to make a cold Milo as well as that but never succeeded. Still.. I made my very own ice-cold Milo as part of my Maggi Mee tea time meal.

ii) What I also LOVED about Milo was how it tastes. My baby sitter banned me from that though. She said it was too “heaty” to eat Milo in its powder form but I didn’t care. When she was doing the laundry or hanging clothes up I would sneak into the kitchen. Armed with a table spoon in my hand I would flip open the lid of the Milo Tin and put one full table spoon of Milo powder into my mouth. As the milo powder diluted in my saliva, I closed my eyes and I remember thinking that it was how the food in Heaven must’ve been like.

My nanny would often know of my crime though and give me a big scolding. The sprinkles of Milo powder on my shirt often gives me away.

3) Koko Krunch

I don’t know of any kid that didn’t love Koko Krunch growing up. I had it almost every day for breakfast before I left for school. The sun will barely be up when I came down from my room dressed in my school uniform. Set on the breakfast table will be an empty bowl with a spoon in it. Right next to it, a carton of milk and a box of Koko Krunch. I would then mix them both together myself in the bowl and gobble away

20 years later I do the same thing before going to work. In fact this morning I had Koko Krunch for breakfast right after I had finished a business conference call with people in the USA. Funny enough the only other cereal that I have been consistently in love with ever since is… the Milo cereal which is coincidentally under Nestle too.

4) Nestum

I didn’t just try to get creative with Maggi Mee. I tried it with Milo too. One day I discovered that there was such a thing called Nestum that you could add into your Milo. I got addicted to it.

5) Nescafe

My family kept the Milo tin in a cupboard right next to the Nescafe Bottle. Remember the long one? Now I wasn’t allowed to drink a lot of coffee as a kid but one thing I had to try was Nescafe in its powder form. It was BITTER!. I choked and I never did it again. This time my nanny laughed and hoped that it would teach me a lesson not to eat things the way it’s not supposed to be eaten. It didn’t work though. I continued eating my milo.

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The thing about Nestle is that its role in my life continued on till even after I grew up. When I first started Nuffnang, one of the first advertisers to run a campaign with us was Nestle. It was one of the first companies I had gone out to pitch to and I met some people who today are friends of mine. Vanda and Mr Khoo (I call them). So Nestle has played a bit part in my life and supported me too at times when I needed help the most.

So Happy 100th Anniversary Nestle. May you touch the lives of many more.

What’s your Nestle story? Share it in the comments.

Or you could share it here and win some prizes.

I just looked into my phone to see what pictures I took in the past week. Here’s what I found.

1) Wedding Planner

We met up with our wedding planner. She’s the girl on the left and her name is Audrey! What a small world it is because it turns out I actually knew Audrey from my secondary school days in Penang. Right before I met her, Shorty was telling me how Audrey (our wedding planner) would call her and say “Hi Audrey, this is Audrey.. HAHAHA!”.

2) Shorty’s Grandma

Every Sunday, Shorty would make it a point to find some time out of her Sunday afternoon to visit her grandmother.

Sometimes I would tag along and just sit and watch while Shorty tells her about her week and what happened at work. This visit though grandma was watching some make-up show in Taiwan so Shorty gladly sat down next to her and watched the whole segment while talking all sorts of things about make-up. I feel asleep so I missed out most of the conversation.

3) Tiah Family Bak Kut Teh

On Saturday we went to do some prayers for my late grandfather. Almost the entire Tiah family of all my cousins went. After prayers we decided to go to Klang for BKT so we ended up at my favourite shop, taking up 6 tables. I took this picture of all the Tiah’s having their BKT.

They all thought it was the best BKT ever 🙂

4) Shorty and Fatty

I don’t know how this happened, but one night before we went to bed we decided to take a picture together. That’s Shorty without any of her make-up on.

I remember how Shorty used to be afraid to let me see her without make-up. But as you can all see… she’s still pretty cute without make-up and with her glasses right ? 🙂

Last night I went to bed before Shorty did. I was just about to doze off when her phone beeped from a WhatsApp and woke me up. I got fed up so I got up, picked up her phone and changed my name in her phone to “Mighty Cock”.

Then I gave her a missed call today.

She called me “irritating”.

But while I was in the shower after work she decided to change her name on my phone and give me a missed call.

The games we play to annoy each other.

Only when you lose someone do you really realize how important someone was to you. That was how… my whole family felt yesterday at my grandfather’s funeral. My grandfather’s name was Tiah Eng Bee.

The family home in which my father grew up along with my aunties and uncles was in the small town of Kluang, Johor. It was a single storey house with just a few rooms where my uncles and aunties would cram together growing up. At the back of the house there were constantly chickens or ducks walking around the house, probably not knowing they would all eventually end up in the kitchen with my grandmother one day. To feed the family.

My grandfather was a politican, the only one in our family till today. During Tunku Abdul Rahman’s time, he ran for elections and became a member of parliament. We had old pictures of him in the 60s, pictures of him campaigning for votes and pictures of him with prime ministers or leaders that we only get to read about in our history books. On one picture he was shaking hands with Tunku Abdul Rahman, another with Tun Hussein Onn and even one with Tun Mahathir.

At the end of his great life, I find myself remembering all the things that my grandfather was… and wasn’t.

My Grandfather was wise

In one of our conversations a few years ago, he praised me for doing well in business but he cautioned me. He said “When you make money, make sure you save enough. Because the opportunity to make money doesn’t always last and the world is a cruel place for people who don’t have money”.

My Grandfather cared.

About 2-3 months ago, I was having a lot of challenges at work and I was really stressed out. My parents knew and I think word got passed down to my grandpa.

I went to visit my sick grandpa one day. There he was laying in bed, gaunt and weak… with hardly the strength to talk to anyone. When I walked in I smiled, shouted “HELLO AH GONG!!!” and waved frantically. We all knew he was too weak to respond but I could see him acknowledging me in his eyes.

Then as he saw me come closer, he opened his mouth and muttered the only few words he could say to me.

“How is your problem?”.

I said I had managed to overcome them and it’s all ok. I could see him breathe a small sign of relief as he slowly slipped back into sleep.

I left his house that day thinking…. that there was my dying grandfather who hardly had the strength to do anything. But he mustered the strength to ask me how my problem was. My grandfather cared.

My Grandfather was honest.

As an MP and a politician, my grandfather was never corrupt and he was never rich. He told us of the many opportunities he had to be corrupt as an MP but he refused to turn on the people who had voted for him. So he never was rich on his own, but he believed his honesty was why he was blessed with successful children that cared for him all the way till his last days on earth.

My grandfather was 89 years old when he passed away 6 days ago. The Tiah family came together to mourn him and to see him off to his final resting place that was on a beautiful spot on a hill in Rawang. He lived not just a long life but a full life. He struggled to raise a family, he served our country and community.

In the end he left behind a legacy in us. His children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

I can only hope that I will be able to live a life as full and meaningful as his.

Rest in peace Ah Gong.

Just came back from the ChurpChurp screening of Battleship.

OMG YOU GUYS HAFTA WATCH IT!!!

I mean there are many kinds of great movies. The touching emotional ones, the ones that make you feel all mindf*cked (remember Inception?) and well there are the feel good action ones like Transformers or… Battleship. Almost made me want to join the Navy.

Last Saturday night, I went to pick up my cousin from my grandfather’s home to go to Zouk @ Sepang. I decided to check in on my grandfather so I sneaked into his room only to find him sleeping on his bed. He was snoring really loudly which made me smile because all these little sounds are a reminder to all of us on how alive someone is.

I left him to sleep and decided to come back on Sunday afternoon.

The next morning I woke up to receive messages from my Aunty that grandpa had passed away Sunday morning at 8AM. Life is fragile… one night you see someone snoring loudly away and the next morning, he could be gone to a better place.

At the age of 89, my grandpa not only lived a long life but a meaningful one too. He left behind children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of Tiah’s that will do him proud. None of us would be around if it wasn’t for him and my grandma.

Take care Ah Gong!

I’ve been going through lots of photo or video shoots lately. Just yesterday a crew from a national TV station spent the afternoon in our Nuffnang and ChurpChurp offices to do a story on our working culture. I think the Nuffies have gotten used to having videographers and photographers in the office so much that they can carry on with their day without feeling awkward from a camera watching them from behind.

It makes me really happy when people outside come to our office, bask in the culture and tell us how much they love it. I love it because culture isn’t just really what a company creates. It’s something that the Nuffies have carried on and fostered along the way.

They also interviewed some of my colleagues who had other jobs before and asked them what the difference was. Here’s Nic Chay getting his mic on.

Just a couple of days ago Nuffnang and ChurpChurp came out in a cover story for Metro Biz in The Star. It was a huge 3 pager. The journalist behind this story was really resourceful. I didn’t tell her anything about our profit and revenue numbers but she managed to dig and find some numbers for our Malaysian operations.

Haha lots of people were asking me if those numbers were true… many thinking that the real number was higher. Well YES… those numbers were from 2 years ago (in 2010) and is true… for one subsidiary of Netccentric ie Nuffnang Sdn Bhd on its own. I guess for anyone to see the full picture of how much our group makes you need to look at all the other 20 companies or so that we have in Malaysia and in the other 6 countries we have operations in, in the region.

In any case I think there are far bigger companies out there than us anyway. I think we do ok. What I love the most about our company though (The Netccentric Group), is the PEOPLE.

The last photoshoot thing I was involved in this week was a meeting with Shorty and my pre-wedding photo shoot photographers.

It’s being done by a Nuffnang blogger named Kim in Pink. Shorty and I decided to support fellow Nuffnang bloggers since so many Nuffnangers are a talented bunch!

Have a good weekend everyone!

When I was in the shower last night I started thinking about success. To me, success isn’t necessarily measured by money. It’s about how well you do or how much you achieve in whatever you want to do in your life. Like being the best badminton player or a good artist. Sure money often does follow success but it is not equal to success.

Growing Up, My mum always told me that money and success changes you. So no matter how well things were going she constantly reminded me to stay humble.

I can understand why that is ever so important to my parents. In just my 5 years of doing business, I’ve seen businesses thrive and these same businesses go down. Nuffnang and ChurpChurp may be fast growing companies that recorded double and triple digit growth in the past 5 years in a row but economic cycles are such that all businesses will eventually face a downtime. So success is sometimes temporary or cyclical.

My Dad always said “be nice to all the people you meet on the way up, because these are the same people you will see on your way down”.

I have been guilty of this myself. There were times in the past where I did get carried away with my small achievements and it eventually led to this: one day my Dad shouted at me over the phone telling me to stay humble or I am nobody. I knew he was right. So I kept myself in check. Hence if I have humility today, that all comes from my parents.

I see it all around me. People whom I had known from before and gained success had suddenly grown arrogant. The signs are there. Constantly talking about their achievements, about how successful they were, how their success was due to how capable they were instead of help from other people. Some of them even aren’t that successful but portray themselves as very.

That is my biggest fear in life. That I will one day be carried away without people around me holding me back. What I always remind myself that, no matter how successful you are in business, career or studies… There will always be someone even more successful. Success is after all…relative.

Never take success for granted. Be thankful for it and remember why you were successful in whatever you did. All I have today isn’t because I am the smartest or the most capable. It’s because I’ve been lucky, and I’ve been surrounded by great people who helped me get to where I am today. And no matter where I get to in life, I know there will always be someone more successful.