October 31, 2010

• 3 years

   

  

  So today marks my 3rd year in Malaysia; I can clearly recall 3 years ago today I was sitting right here, using Windows 2000, logging onto Xanga  with shitty ass land line and writing about my first impresison of Malaysia and my future outlook.

  Well, today I’m sitting at the exact same spot using Windows 7 with Wi-Fi instead, and I guess I’ll still write about my post-impression about Malaysia and my future outlook.

  For starters, I think I will be staying in Malaysia for another good 2 or 3 years. For the past 3 years I’ve envisioned expanding the business to the US for the reason that I wanted to reside in the Bay Area, and like all things in life, it is easier said than done – after numerous trials and errors, slowly and surely, the dream of bringing my family business to the US became more unrealistic as I learned more about the nature of business I’m in, and experience the level of risks, difficulties and capitals involved into expanding my business to the US.

  But that does not mean I feel sad about it, because I am glad that I am finally able to identify the actual risks and difficulties to bring the business over, as opposed to placing my hopes up high without any solid action plan to backup like 3 years ago.

  The sole reason why I will stay in Malaysia for another 2, 3 years is because most of my business operations run here, and that Malaysia is a pretty good market portal to neighboring South East Asian countries: Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, India, etc.; my English ability allows me to take advantage of the multi-lingual environment that I’m in, as opposed to being in Taiwan, where most businesses rely with Mandarin speakers and extremely saturated market dominated by public corporations.

  For me, I don’t feel the need to “go back” to the Bay Area anymore, I just want to find out where and how I can make money first – that is passive income instead of a salary; I’ve stayed in Malaysia for 3 years, Bay Area 11, and Taiwan for 14, I have things that I like and don’t like in all 3 places, and there are still hundreds of places and cities I have not yet visited, so it’s quite early to decide where I want to stay, what matters most is where I’ll eventually stay, so before that happens, I simply need to prepare myself for it.

  Another thing is, I don’t feel the attachment to “stay in the family business” anymore either. The responsibility and burden to make this company a success now become less important to me, it is now simply a survival game, as long as the business is profitable, I’ll stay in, and with or without the company, I will still make investments on real estates or side projects that I am truly interested or passionate about.

  With this attitude in mind, I guess I can really see where I’m going with more realistic expectations and live my everyday life more joyously.

  Of course, undeniably, I still wish to reside eventually in the Bay Area, with two reaons. One being that I really do miss all my friends, the 10 year-friendships along really is irreplacable; at our ages today, especially in Asia, it’s very difficult to make friends for the sake of friendship; most likely everyone is out here making friends for networking or business purposes. The friendships I have with the homies simply can’t be described with words, I can only say that I really am closer to some of my friends than my own family. But of course, eventually all my buddies are going to move on and get married and have kids, and maybe move away eventually, which brings me to the second reason:

  Another reason is that I know eventually I will build a family and have children, I would definitely want my children to be raised in the US – whether the Bay Area or other cities. Out of Taiwan, Malaysia, and the Bay Area, US (the Bay Area) indeed has the most established, matured, and organized “systems” – in Education, Quality of Living, Market opportunities, down to the Morals.

  I can’t find a word to describe the “system” I’m talking about, we notice a lot of little things that we neglect to pay attention to in the normal days, one simply must spend a good amount of time in a foreign environment, interacting with the indigenous people and cutlure, to really understand how all the seemingly trivial matters are cultivated and manifested through the “system” of a nation, be it the government, the religion, or the people, and I simply think that based on my experience, I feel that the “system” of the United States is best worth me spending the rest of my life with my future wife and kids.

  Oh well, I am pretty sure that in the near future my attitude will continue to change, but what I’ve learned in the past 3 years is to be able to look at things more realistically and on a long term basis. A lot of things seem to be the trend that live short lives, I don’t think the US will continue to suffer from economic downturns; nor do I think China will continue to blossom at the insane rate it is experienccing right now, even Japan for once what it was, is now going down on the slope, so who knows? I think once we get past the idea that nothing lasts forever, or even a decade, then it’s easier to look within ourselves and find out what is it we really need and want in the core. I can say that I am getting closer, although not quite there yet.

  Till next time. Cheers!

  

  • 11:47 pm
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