Sometimes I look at people working at McDonald's when I order Egg McMuffin for breakfast in early morning and think, "Damn, these people are working hard. I think they should be paid higher than their bosses in the head office who just sit around all they in their airconditioned rooms." But I don't think of that very often, because that's not what I believe in. And I also don't feel sorry for those service crew. Here's why. Let me offer an explanation by busting the myth of being a boss. Some people think bosses get paid by just sitting all day behind their desk and ordering people around, and just basically sign documents. And then get a fat paycheck thereafter. No. That's not how it works. A lot of people think that work is just based on physical activity, and they think those who sweat more should get more. If you follow that logic, rich people should be paid for going to the gym instead of paying their membership dues to the gym club. Wo...

When we look at the world around us, we will see a lot of inequality and think life is very unfair. There are people living in slums, while others enjoy the luxury of their premium condominium units. The working class work very hard and get their little pay, while businessmen reap millions from their corporations which is run by overworked people. We then ask, what if all of us just seek the exact equal payment for all, exact daily provisions for all, and exact social status for all? There is no rich and poor but equality. The world did just that when it embraced communism, an ideal produced by Karl Marx in his writings. This ideology seems plausible in paper, but sadly did not work. When people do the same work everyday, they become bored. When people watch the same TV shows about patriotism, they become bored. When people starts seeing things they don't really want, they begin to dream. And guess what? Dreaming is forbidden in communism. Perfection is not attainable, b...

When we start learning how Jesus of Nazareth came into this world, we will deal with a lot of scriptural passages and historical accounts of authoritative Jewish historians featuring King Herod, who at that time was the King of Judea, a region of the Roman Empire which now consists of Israel and Palestine. King Herod came into this throne, power and authority by killing a lot of people. He is known to have killed his relatives, his wife, and even his own son, to keep his throne to himself, and anyone who opposes his will are meted out with death penalty. He was introduced to us when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, during the Gospel reading of the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, where he ordered all innocent babies killed in Bethlehem, when he learned that Jesus is destined to be King of the Jews. Herod is the exact opposite of Jesus. Herod rested himself on his power, and he loves the praise of other people. He loves everyone who are popular with the Jews, that is why he l...

We all hear from many authors, mostly from bestselling ones, that there is no fixed formula on how to write a good story. Every author has his own way or method of converting his idea into words, and in some way I find this very true. Authors find their own avenue in constructing their stories from build up to the satisfying end. I, myself, employ my own method of writing. I am not sure how I adapted this, but one thing is true: it is the product of my addiction in reading novels. At some point, in my early attempts in writing my first novel, I tried immitating the style of my favorite authors, but then eventually found my own unique voice. In as much as some ideas overflow, I try to differentiate my style of writing for every project, depending on the idea and the audience it was written for. But this I have to admit: in every piece of writing I produce, I try to make sure that it will sell. I actually studied Oxford MBA as a Rhodes Scholar, and this somehow made me parano...

For someone who likes fantasy and sci-fi fiction, most of the time, a lot of people ask me about how to create a richly imagined world. Fantasy and sci-fi elements rest heavily on how an author weave the setting and the world in which the heroes dwell in, and it helps to make the novel to be imagined vividly in the readers' minds. A convincing world should be relatable, something that we can associate ourselves with. For us to be associated with a world an author created in his mind, and wrote on the pages of a book, this world has to be close to the real thing. It has to be systematic, real and alive, and very convincing. A real world has certain elements, and an author must consider them in writing a vividly imagined world: Cartography - a fantasy or sci-fi world depend heavily on geography and maps, especially if the plot requires war and the belligerents occupy so much space in the plot. A convincing world has the world separated in territories, and every part of the...