Myth of meritocracy

 Meritocracy, some say is becoming a myth. The path that is woven for one to be assessed on merits is an exclusive path reserved for the privileged few. How true is this? I for one remain in ignorance as to if it is a myth. I have not (and pray that I never) will reach a state of denial. What is there to deny you ask? That those whom I have witnessed achieving success based on meritocracy may blind me to the realities of today's situation.

Such denial ought to be the death of me. As to the path that is reserved or can only be partaken by the privileged, that I cannot claim ignorance. I see if for myself how that path at certain stages has toll gates that only some can afford to pay.

Existence of such toll gates were much lesser during my time. I was surprised to hear that on top of sending kids to premium football academies, parents also send them to specialised classes. Such classes focuses on technical skills, which is a very important part of your game skills. Would the kid attending it have an advantage over another who doesn't? Mostly obviously, unless the other kid is super natural talent. 

So you see, the path does have much toll gates, but whether in paying to get through them and ultimately be selected through 'merit' remains a contested area. But this is sports I speak of. A field where natural talent may outshine your average athlete. And the public will question why the talented individual is not selected.

But in one's academics journey, things are not so simple. Limited spots in schools. Criteria for acceptance may not solely be on academic results. CCAs may play a part. Additional activities also helps. Again, the path is filled with toll gates. Some expensive, others less so.

Nevertheless, we must not simply give in to this saying that meritocracy is a myth. Even if there is small bit of truth in it, we must do what we can to keep the path as equal as possible.

-SMN-

Social media addiction

 Well, who knew I was addicted to social media. For someone who proudly claims that he is not actively engaged in any social media platforms - in truth, it turned out that 'not being actively engaged' does not equate to 'not being addicted'.

How did I find out I was an addict? First, I turned off my YouTube history suggestion. So if reflexively I entered into YouTube, I will not find any recommend videos. Previously, I would be distracted by the recommended videos and will (out of interest) click and watch the video.

Now that the tap to distraction (in fact, addiction) was turned off, I then sub consciously turned on the other tap. The Instagram tap. I have an insta account which I use sparingly. Mostly to see videos shared by wife and friends. But to my surprise (and horror), I began using insta more. And more and more. Could spend a few hours a day on it. Damn. And so I new I was a addict.

I then decided to uninstall (not delete) insta. Now, let's see what other tap(s) will I turn on. Hopefully none.

The story here is that we think we are not addicted to something until that something gets taken (or deleted) away, and you find you struggle (terribly) without it.

Perhaps, it can be put that we are all addicts in someway. To TV, food, media etc. Whether our train is wired to crave for certain things, and in finding those things, it gradually turns into addiction, is something worth probing or is already probed into by scientists.

If us adults who are coming to realise the risk of social media addiction and become unknowingly addicted to it, what then can we expect of the young.

More than the addiction, what I found even more concerning was I could no longer focus while reading. The reflexive (or urge) to toggle to YouTube or insta confounded me. Even now I continue to toggle. But with the uninstallation of insta, let's see i become sober.

 I love motivational speeches. Especially from great athletes. Michael Jordan, Cristiano Ronaldo, Khabib etc. I get so pumped up. And then procrastination sits in. You go back to your old ways. Oh well. All the talks about hunger, drive, grit and what not. You go to bed, hoping that your dreams will (at the very least) appear in your dreams.

Having listened to many such speeches, the key takeaway for me is to be consistent. Consistent in what you do. It can be training, it can be a way of working. Be consistent first. Seek improvement next. You don't always need to be competitive. Sometimes (or most times) there is no competition. It's just you and your goal. So be consistent in your work. Always turn up. Like Woody Allen said "90% of success is showing up". Get up, get changed, get going, get doing, get it done.

No guarantee you are going to succeed soon (of it at all). But don't be obsessed with the outcome. It will come. The process is what matters. Refine it if possible. Or change it if it is not working. But to continue working you must.

-SMN-

20 years

 Come 30th August, it will be 20 years since i started this blog. 

Thanks to Google for keeping this blog alive. I started blogging somewhere in 2003 (it was different site - called pitas). Started right after I was done with secondary school and awaiting to start my course in polytechnic. 

A typical daily journal. Some days exciting. Other days monotonous. Mostly filled with days of skateboarding, footballing and self-deluding thoughts on finding my dream girlfriend.

That was 20 years ago. I was 20 years old. Now, I am forty years old. Many changes for sure. For the better? I hope so. 0-20 years old, the phases of life in that period. And 21 to 40 years old, the phases of life in this period. Further broken down to a 4-5 years sub-periods, one will find phases that are exciting and sometimes boring (adulting). If only i had documented down my thoughts regularly in this blog. I could have tracked the changes during the different phases.

Once again, I am guilty of not keeping up with blogging. Last entry was in May 2024. 2 years have since passed.  Will do better in the future (hopefully!).

-SMN-

Today I rode to Johor Bahru with my wife for a breakfast ride.

Today I rode to Johor Bahru with my wife for a breakfast ride. Rode my new motorcycle, the Yamaha XMAX 300 Tech Max, commonly known as XMAX. 

Now, if you are fellow motorcyclist who loves to go touring, you will understand the joy of riding. Never mind the destination you are headed, its just the pure joy of riding. It is therapeutic for me. I am thankful my wife enjoys it too (that's what she say and if she is lying, she hides it pretty well).

I have been on many trips across the border to JB. Did regular trips to Malacca during pre-covid days and a few trips to KL. I enjoyed all of them (except when there is a heavy downpour!).

So today, we googled and saw this site - https://eatbook.sg/johor-bahru-cafes/. Decided to give some of the cafes a try over the next few weeks. Today we tried the cafe called The Replacement – Lodge & Kitchen . A decent cafe. Along that street there were many other cafes / restaurant. Plan to try some of them soon too.

Man, this blog entry is rather nostalgic. It's like those days where you simply write how your day went...haha!

However, a blog entry on the joy of motorcycling cannot be told in one post. It needs many more to do it justice!

Hope to share more on how i started, the good and bad days of riding and the multiple bikes before deciding i finally found that one bike (you know that's a lie, because one bike is never enough!).

Good night.

-SMN

Last blogged date was in Aug 2023.

 Last blogged date was in Aug 2023. 

I admit, that was terribly long ago when considering that i promised to blog more frequently. School was a factor. Laziness was another. It is not that there is nothing to write about. It is too much unstructured thoughts which can be chaotic and it takes too much time to put into writing in a coherent manner.

For instance, i would like to talk about investing and finance. The subject is not only voluminous but also operates in the subjective realms where any opinion likely has a counter-argument. But, agreeably, that is not a good reason not to talk about it. The trick is to narrow the topic and offer a short summary. Perhaps someday I can talk and write more about it because it is important i track my thoughts on this subject. I have found that what i held to true in finance may be no longer be true. So it is important to remind myself that it's perfectly fine to be wrong. It's the learning from the wrong that is pivotal.

And since we are at the subject of finance, i was saddened to hear the passing of Charlie Munger a couple of months back. No doubt many saw it coming since he was approaching 100 years old. More than investing, both Munger and Warren Buffett have shared wisdom that there is more to life than just investing. May Munger rest in peace. Interestingly, Munger was a fan of Lee Kuan Yew, so much so that he has a bust of LKY at his home.

Says a lot about Munger and also about LKY. There is no mention that they ever met personally. Who knows, may be they did since LKY is know to travel to US and meet the top officials and business leaders.

To end, will blog more often. About bikes, bags, books, football and everything. I enjoy reading back some of my old posts. Even more satisfying is to know there are no followers of the blog. With followers, it would be tiresome to question every blog post if it comes off as offensive before posting it. To any one who eventually comes across this blog and reads it, i hope you will read all or most of the posts to know that my intent is never to offend. Sometimes it may come as so. But i hope you see my intent of it.

Thanks and good night.

-SMN

 Again, guilty as charged. Not blogging as frequently as I had hoped. Nevertheless, better something, even if infrequent, than totally inexistent.

I came across this quote today by Anton Chekov - "Don't tell me the moon is shining, show me the glint of light on broken glass". The quote taken from the book of  Steven D. Stark who emphasised the importance of storytelling.

Another quote, from Aristotle - "There is nothing in the intelligence which did not first pass through the senses."

 We often take good writers for granted. When something written is so easy to understand, we think that it was written in a simple manner. Simple means anyone (or most) can do it. Which sadly is not true. 

A mark of great writer is to make the complex simple. 

In making it simple, the writer often gets forgotten because of his simplistic writing.

So next time we come across an article that is simple to read or it paints an imagination in your thoughts. Take some time to remember who the author is.

Good night.

-SMN

As best put by people who ventured into the deep sea, that "it is an unforgiving environment".

You know, it has been hard trying to write consistently. I was hoping to write regularly on this blog. Unfortunately that has not come to fruition. The struggle seems that I spend more time reading many things and consequently running out of time for the day, which then means there is little to no time for writing.

A terrible excuse, I admit. Well, l must not lose hope. So may the Lord grant me strength to repel the habit of reading too much and writing too less.

So, you may have heard about the Titan submersible that imploded. In its excursion to see the Titanic which lies 4,000 metres beneath the sea. 

It piqued my interest and I spent a fair amount of time reading about the deep sea. The deepest sea is the Marian Trench located at western Pacific Ocean and the maximum known depth is found to be 10,984 metres - source: Wikipedia. 

What's even more interesting is James Cameron (director of Titanic and Avatar series) is an avid deep sea explorer. He took the deep dive with a machine called Deepsea Challenger (DC). A machine whose capability is phenomenal. In contrast, the Titan submersible seemed to lack (at least going by the comments and views shared online) the necessary safety features and poor engineering. For instance, the DC could only house one crew member, and that too in a curled up position. While the Titan had 5 crew members. A luxurious space no doubt. Which, unfortunately came at the expense of the lack of safety features.

And even more interesting, the pressure level in the deep sea is equivalent to three cars pinning down a single finger of the human body. So you can try to imagine (I struggled imagining the pain) the pressure it will have on your whole body.

As best put by people who ventured into the deep sea, that "it is an unforgiving environment". A wave here or a loss of communication or guide elsewhere, would put the crew and the submersible at unimaginable risk.

May God ease the suffering of the families who lost their loved in this unfortunate episode.

-SMN