Rest in Time of Crisis..

My 4-year old son defined rest as, “Sleep with your eyes opened. Ears got no voice.” How simple and pure.

1988. I started my business that year. A year with double 8. It was supposed to be a prosperous and a year of plenty. It turned out to be a year that was quite empty. That time my frail business venture was built with straws. Economic recession force most of the restaurant to include the so-called ‘fish from the drain’ into their menu. Local catfish or ‘ikan keli’ in Malay. Demand for prawn for dinner dipped low enough for us to stop production for prawn and ventured into keli  instead. What a pity.

1998. Another figure 8, ten years later. Another crisis. The Asian financial crisis. An architect friend of mine told me that almost daily for 2 weeks, he received calls telling him that projects are to be on hold due to the crisis. At that time, I almost lost everything from a so-called partnership venture. Lesson learnt that never to believe anyone who ventured into business with you from prayers answered. This time I re-built my business with timber and dropped the straws.

2008. Another figure 8 and another ten years later, another tough lesson to go through. Global economic crisis. Back to drawing board and this time, the business has to be re-built in bricks. With daily bad economic news splashed over the newspaper, tell me what have you geared up to prepare for another bad invasion? I have heard that  some Merlins are very much in demand in this time of crisis..and last week, I bumped into one Dato’ and he was looking for someone who can help him to design his eco-resort concept and he said to me, “My prayers answered.”

The fortune teller said to the nervous businessman, “Something big is coming your way very soon.” The businessman was excited till the fortune teller took out a piece of paper and said, “A big fat bill for this consultation.”