Chew Piin Huann 丘品焕

People are afraid to become an idiot. Everyone wants to become an "expert"/"professional"/"certified XXX" etc. If you are already an idiot. You are in the best position. By some minimal effort, whatever you do you will become better and improve! It's hard not for an idiot not to improve. Whereas if you are an "expert"/"professional"/"certified XXX", you are in the worst position. Whatever you do, you are likely to do worse than what you have done. Every single day you are worrying about the "what-if"'s. "What if this cuisine turned out to taste bad?" "What if this video is going to be awful? What will the commenters say?" "What if our sales turned out bad? What will the press say?" The whole world is now looking at you. And if you don't pay 101% attention(which a normal human can't), you are going to screw up when everyone expects your 100%. Being an idiot is great.

(1) Roughly 10 years ago, my parents discovered their favourite restaurant somewhere 15 mins of drive from my home. They went there so often and they liked the restaurant so much to the extent that whenever they finished eating, they would stay there for awhile to chat with other customers who shared the same table (all tables of the restaurant were unusually big). Sooner they also realised that there were also people who, like them, like this restaurant so much and visit it frequently. Then they became friends. One of their friends is a bald old man in his sixties. He is very talkative and extroverted. So I have quite some impression on him when I followed my parents to the restaurant. Later, I got to know more about his background. He is a bachelor (and therefore needless to say, he does not have any children). He is illiterate. He worked as a factory worker for his whole life which was largely consisted of manual labour. He used to have some chronic heart illness. Some years

During March this year as usual I received queries pertaining to undergraduate law study. One of the e-mail was titled "Enquiries of um law from a desperate f6 leaver" . This young girl is asking me about "tips for interview" and as how the e-mail title showed, she seemed a little bit anxious. Later on she told me that the reason she was that nervous was because there were some people who told her a lot about "interviews" and what she needs to "prepare". While more information adds more options to life, it can backfire sometimes especially causing damage to our psyche.  I answered a little bit differently this time compared to the past and I think my answer worth being re-posted as follows:- Hi Miao, Thank you for your e-mail and well done for your examination results. My blog entry was a record about the interview I attended in UKM for its law degree in 2011. I did not attend any interview for UM's law degree as UM's Fa

Long time no see guys (and girls) ! If you are (still) here let me know by saying Hi below! I miss alot of you.

My parents told me that a shop nearby my house (whose owner is their friend) was "visited" by an Indian "Kongsi Gelap" (I do not know what's the equivalent in English, maybe "the Mafia"? Except that they are much less stylish and classy compared to the Italians). The owner was requested to pay RM1,000/year per unit as a courtesy of being protected well all the time. She owns 4 units, so that's RM4,000/year. Of course those are illegal. The "protection" is merely an official fiction by the mafia for extortion. They have done nothing economically deserving for money in return. My parents did not know whether she pays at the end so I lack an ending to make judgment. But they did not describe the incident with anger. They were merely narrating it to me as a normal incident of the day. Then they further told me how common this situation is by citing all other past occurrence that happened to them and their friends, and how powerless they a

Recently I stumbled upon some videos on Youtube about the political tension between China & Hong Kong. I was reminded on the hopelessly insoluble conflicts between China, Hong Kong & Taiwan.  My parents have been calling the Hong Kongese and Taiwanese activists "naive" on an economic standpoint. They think that Hong Kongese and Taiwanese are committing suicide gradually as the Chinese may stop their trade with Hong Kong & Taiwan due to their rebellion. Meanwhile, in the videos the "reformers" had propounded their strong arguments on democracy, liberty and the nations' "future". Some principles I do not know enough to have opinions about the situation. Coincidentally a friend of mine also spoke to me casually about this topic. That conversation enlightened me about the fundamental principles hold by the conflicting parties.  The conservatives say that Hong Kong and Taiwan originally belong to China, and for them any large-scale modif