Uncle Chan's discourse

Woohoo!

2010-11-14T21:41:00.001+08:00

Woohoo!!!!!

Have Card, Will Shop

2009-08-20T11:00:00.003+08:00

This was taken from The Sunday StarMag 16 August 2009. Been wanting to upload it but never gotten around to do it. As much as it is a write up to promote Citibank credit cards, it does contain useful advise such as utilizing credit card rebates/discounts at certain food/mall outlets.

One thing that I beg to differ is that they encourage people to spend money they have yet to earn via zero interest instalment schemes (ZIIS). Unless you can afford an item with upfront payment, do not buy it i.e if you do not have RM 1,600 to buy a digital camera, control your urge to have it now and buy it when you have sufficient funds. Many people do not realise that it is these little instalment payments that is eating away your monthly income and prevents you from having sufficient money at the end of the month. Always make it a habit to save first and spend later instead of the current norm of spend first and use ZIIS to pay for it!

Well, I hope that you do take your time to read through this article. Cheers!

Bloody Ingrates!

2009-08-20T10:30:00.005+08:00

Read this this morning and it really pissed me off. How could the children do this to their parents? I do not know what was the reason behind this but leaving the old folks to fend for their own under a school's staircase is bloody wrong. Note to parents, never leave your assets to your kids until you pass on for this might happen to you.

Taken from The Star 20 August 2009, page N51

Money Talks In Cancer

2009-08-09T20:53:00.004+08:00

This article was published in The Fit4Life of The Sunday Star (9th August 2009). The title itself is pretty self explanatory. I can relate to this because of my mum's battle with the same disease. I hope you do take your time to read it. Cheers!

The Best and the Worst

2009-06-30T17:25:00.004+08:00

My first update in 6 months! Whoopie!To start the ball rolling... I'll share with you the newspaper cutting I had since Form 5. It's pasted on my desktop monitor. =)

P.S: This is to test the time it takes for FB to import this into my notes. LoL

Chinese Dinners...

2008-12-30T13:51:00.003+08:00

Checklist for Chinese dinners.

Brandy, beer, whiskey and more recently, cheap wine
Guests who shouts instead of conversing within the tolerable decible range
Late guests who were supposed to arrive at 1900 but arrives at 2000. This results in the late serving of food that has been prepared since 1830. (Cold lotus leaf rice/roasted pork anyone? Oh, you'll gulp it down anyway cause you were starving!)
Karaoke sessions by seniors who belts oldies which no one born before 1970's knows of. Plus, their singing encourages people to speak even louder! (refer to previous point)
Relatives who are more interested in your marriage/relationship with your other half. They will take turns in interrogating your parents and yourself on the person you are dating as if they are going to spend the rest of their lives with your other half. Your life will be even more miserable if you are a female above 25 years old and not seeing anyone at the moment.
Gossips on relatives who are not seated at your table
Gossips on relatives who are absent (even if he/she just left for the washroom)
Self-appointed director for the night. He/she will volunteer themselves to dictate how the toast and cake cutting ceremony should be. How to spot these individuals? They are usually the ones who instruct others on top of their lungs on how the camera angle should be, who should be toasting first, how to cut the cake... etc. Erm... i think you get the picture.
Purpose of the dinner! Well... erm... not really. Who cares about reason for the dinner? Chinese dinners are avenues for old uncles and aunties to gather and get drunk. Heck, even funeral wakes are avenues for these old folks to gamble and do the things listed here. LoL.

Conclusion? Chinese dinners = another weak excuse for seniors to get drunk.

Resurrection...

2008-12-29T01:45:00.001+08:00

Oh God... it's been forever since I last wrote in here. It's 0145 in the morning as I sit in front of my laptop pondering on what happened to my blog! I love writing down my thoughts and ever since I have started working, this has taken a back seat! Hmmm... If I were to say that I was too busy to update my blog, that is simply not true. I had ample time to do so due to the flexibility of my job. I have forsaken so many simple pleasures in life (such as blogging!) since I left MMU in June 2006. It's time I take some time to reflect on 2008 and start my 2009 with new resolutions and goals! Restarting my blog is definitely one of my 2009 resolutions! LOL.

I bid you adieu 2008... 2009~ Here I come!

It's Been Awhile...

2008-05-20T20:45:00.005+08:00

Please be advised that this entry has expletives.

I used to be very temperamental person and my fuse was very short. At a moment's notice, I can transform from a mild mannered Uncle Chan to "You-don't-want-to-fuck-with-me" person. Hence, I was labeled as the PMS guy back in my early undergraduate days. Like they say, a person mellows with age but despite toning down considerably in my temper, I still had days when I blew up. My good friend Eugene Cheng can give testament to that. My temper even created discomfort amongst my close good of friends. All of that changed when my mum passed away in 3 March 2006. As I watched my mum drew her last breath, I knew life was too short... too short for me to be having so much anger and grudge against others. Soon after my mum's passing, I made it a point to apologize to all my friends. The first whom I seek apology from was Eugene. Thank God he forgave me and though we are not best of friends now, we are at least friends. From this experience, I have never blew my top nor did I hold any grudges against another person. It is also due to this experience, I have manage to handled rejections better. In fact, I have come to a point where rejections are not taken personally and it is only part and parcel of my line of work.

I have held steadfast to my belief that it is not worth getting angry or let anger control me until last Saturday... A series of events had happened for the past few years and I brushed them all aside because I knew this particular individual's behaviour. I didn't mind that he never liked the fact that I am not a hokkien-lang (hokkien clan). I couldn't care less with the knowledge that he disliked me because of my Christian faith (Oh, he did try to pass on some "bullet-proof" Buddhist charms to me which he claims can make me invulnerable to gun fire! Woohoo!). Unfortunately for me, I am not the type who will suck up to him or sweet talk my way through so that I can get into his good books. The treatment he gave me all these years... I took it in my stride. However, what transpired last week awaken my long sleeping demons; anger and grudge. When I found out on Thursday what his thoughts on me were, I was totally taken aback but I still manage to keep my cool. Such revelations can really hurt a person especially when it came from a person whom will be kin in the near future. The straw which broke the camel's back happened last Saturday noon. I went to his place to meet this individual who is very dear to me (who unfortunately stays with this asshole... for now). I was early and I didn't know the person whom I seek wasn't at home. So, I rang the bell a couple of times and out comes the asshole.

Me: Good afternoon uncle!
Asshole : ******* is not in! She's not in!
Me: I know, she's on the way back and she's almost here already...
Asshole : Ok ok...

And the asshole happily walked back into the house before I could utter another word. Leaving me standing under the 4pm hot sun for the next 15 minutes while I waited the return of my good friend. That really made my blood boil...

Now, here's a checklist;

He dislikes me for not being Hokkien ...
I can take it
He dislikes me for being a Catholic ...
I can still take it
He treats me like dirt most of the time while I am at his place ...
I can manage it.
He views me with disdain because of my profession ...
I can barely take it in... but still ok
He thinks I am a gold digger going after his assets...
This shook me a bit. I never thought he would view me as such even though I have known him for 7 fucking years and the fact that my family is much better off than his. However,I kept a lid on it and took it all in.
He can't even extend common courtesy to me and made me wait in the sun...
It may seem trivial, but that was really the fucking last straw.

If he was a friend of mine, I would have ended our friendship. If he was a client of mine, I will just cancel his policy and ask him to fuck himself. Unfortunately, circumstances made it as such I have to see his fucking face for the rest of my fucking life. Thanks asshole for this shit. If I have the opportunity, I would have said this to him;

Dear asshole, I wish you well and hope you change for the better soon. As far as I know, people like you tend to die a lonely death... since you would have pissed off your family and friends before you move on... Eh wait, what friends? I almost forgot that your definition of "friend" is "gold digger". Oh... my bad. Well, good luck to you and thanks for reawakening my friends "Anger" and "Grudge". The next time I beat them back into submission, I would have definitely become a better person. As for you, I can only look forward to see you die a slow, lonely and agonizing death. Cheers!

P.S: Pardon me for putting up such an entry this time. I really had to get it out of my system before I let Mr.Anger and Ms.Grudge overwhelm me.

Now I Finally Understood...

2008-05-10T10:03:00.005+08:00

The last update I had was in September 2007 when I celebrated my first year in the Life Insurance business. A lot has happened since then which left footprints in my life; for better or worse. However, I can only share some of the more significant instances here...

When I started off in this industry, I never truly believed what my seniors and immediate officer Ah Hoon said that this is a noble and meaningful industry as well as it can only get easier. Back when I was still a newbie, all these statements seem very foreign to me. Nonetheless, I served all my clients and friends with utmost integrity and most importantly, sincerity. (Till a point my dear Adel complained that I did more for my clients that for her! Yikes! LoL. Dearie... I'm sorry for that!). After reading so many motivational books and attending a RM 4,000 seminar on the Power of Change back in January, I have learn to serve unconditionally and with utmost sincerity. In many instances, I personally experienced the joy of helping another (friends or strangers alike) with the explicit knowledge that this particular person has no means whatsoever to return the favour (I label it as unconditional giving). The joy I derived from this cannot be bought by monetary means nor can it be faked. Many thanks to Zig Ziglar for teaching me this very important lesson. Thanks to this concept that was hardwired to my work ethics, I've even received a Christmas card from a good friend cum client of mine all the way from Colorado Springs, U.S.A! I have pinned up this card in my room as a reminder that I must continue to apply the principle of unconditional giving.

The life insurance industry also thought me another invaluable lesson; job satisfaction. Of course, we all work to gain enough money to purchase material items in order to sustain ourselves. However, the events that occurred in the past 21 months opened my eyes that monetary returns is not the most important thing after all. Since I began serving, I have total conviction in what I do because I believe in adding value to people's life as well as the product I represent since it has helped my family during my mum's failed battle against cancer. Probably my conviction was translated in my work ethics and the positive response I gain from my friends and clients alike makes all my hardship melt away. The first incident that gave me immense job satisfaction came from a good friend of mine, Ms.R. She was the third person to start a life insurance policy with me back then. We met up at for lunch couple of weeks ago and I advised her to start saving for her retirement. I proposed her a suitable savings scheme and gave her time to think about it. A week or so has passed, she text me stating she wants to get it from her other half's cousin sister, whom is an established and reputable agent with Great Eastern as well. Due to the fact that she is a family relation to her boyfriend, she dare not say "no" to her. Understanding her predicament, we had a brief conversation and I politely asked her to think about it again. When I followed up on her decision, she text me with this ,

"Hi Nick! Been meaning to contact you but the past few days have been really hectic for me... about that conclusion, I already told A's cousin I'll be buying from you. So don't worry. I think it's the only right to do so. Plus you know my finances better..."

Reading this SMS gave me immense satisfaction. The way I interpreted this is she is willing to continue placing her trust in me to be her servicing agent despite being approached by a more established and related family member. The trust given to me... meant so much more to me than anything else.

The second incident happened last Wednesday during my visit to one of my clients in Midvalley Boulevard office. All along, there has been this Mr.T who is also one of my clients in that office. However, he signed up his policy with me because it was paid for by the company but he never really liked me. Each time I drop by this office, this senior manager will make sarcastic remarks at me such as,"Why are you here? I don't like seeing you here..." and each time he says such remarks, I'll just smile and try to make small chat with him. During my last visit to the office to help my client to make alterations to her payment mode, Mr.T walked into the conference room and again sarcastically said,"You're here again! We have no money to buy insurance from you la...". Again, I just smiled and chatted with him. Later, he came into the conference room we had this conversation;

Mr.T : Eh Nick, do you have any education plans that does not require payment?
Me : I sure do Mr.T. You'll have to start saving yourself and start paying yourself interest la.
*Mr.T gives me the weird look*
Mr.T : How about with RM 2 per month?
Me : Mr.T, be reasonable... do you expect there are free or cheap plans in this world?
*Mr.T laughs*
Mr.T : Alright... can you make me a plan for my two boys?
Me : Sure... how old are they?
Mr.T : Six and eight years old.
Me : What's your budget Mr.T?
Mr.T : What budget? Never thought of that before... do I really need one?
Me : Ok ok. Do you want to send them to University of London or just a local university?
Mr.T : Eh, their father also went to local uni... they won't need to go overseas la.
Me : Fair enough... but you want to enroll them in private or public university?
Mr.T : What difference does it make? Private Uni is better... it is in English
Me : Erm... I graduated two years ago from a private local uni and it cost me RM 60,000 on tuition fees. I expect it to grow beyond RM 100,000 when your children enrolls.
Mr.T : Wah... so expensive ah! Ok... You go prepare a plan for me la...
Me : Not a problem... do you have any existing insurance policies?
Mr.T : I think I have... but no idea where I placed the policies...
Me : To be fair to you, I can't just go make a proposal without knowing what you have. Why don't you pass me your children's policies so I can make a review. Only after that, I can prepare a plan that really suit your needs.
Mr.T : So much hassle? Ok-lah. Then the policy you sold me last time, what does it lack? Do I need to top up?
Me : Similarly, I still need to look at your existing policies before I make any recommendations.
Mr.T : Ok-lah. I will be away for a business trip in Bangkok the whole of next week... when I come back on the 19th, I will pass you my whole family's policies... you take a look at it.
Me : Alright... I'll give you a buzz when you're back.

(The conversation continued on with other topics. He then asked me to go to his room and we had a good half an hour chat after that)

I felt really great when I left the office. In my mind, I earnestly believe I have finally proven myself to Mr.T that I am a capable agent and he is now willing to place his trust in me to service his family. Though it was never easy taking in his sarcastic remarks... I'm glad I was able to prove to him that I'm not just another agent but someone who can truly add value to his life.

The third and most memorable incident came from a mother of a friend of mine. She rang me up the same Wednesday morning to ask me on home and commercial property fire insurance. Due to my preset appointments, I was only able to meet her at 11pm in the evening. We went through the documentations and once that was done, we had a brief chit-chat. After chatting a while, she started to share her worries about her children. Since I knew both her children, she told me to keep it to myself what she said that night. Imagine the surprise I had! I could never have imagined a 55 year old lady sharing her family worries with me (someone who can be her son! LoL). We continued chatting until 0030 before I took my leave. Again, the trust she had in me for her to confide in me meant so much to me...

It is little feedbacks like this that made me truly understand what my I/O said last time. Many thanks to Ah Hoon for bringing me into this beautiful industry. Many many thanks to all my friends and clients who placed their faith and trust in me throughout this 21 months. I vow to continue serving you to the best of my abilities. Cheers!

One Year...

2007-09-04T00:41:00.000+08:00

Exactly a year ago, I resigned from my previous company and joined the insurance industry. It was on this same date, I stepped into my SG PJ Agency as a full time insurance agent and attend my very first morning meeting. In a blink of an eye, I am now "one-year-young" in this job and in the past few days, I have been asking myself over and over again, "It has been one year already? It sure feels as though I have just started work! Where did all my time go?". Man... time sure flies!! In this one year, I have learned so much more from the "public-university" (a university where society as a whole is your tutor/lecturer) that I would have never have learned while I was in Multimedia University. Despite the many ups and downs as well as the many challenges that were thrown at me, never once have I ever regretted choosing this as my career path. No doubt that I am still struggling (to a lesser degree now) with the fluctuating income, the experience that I have gained in this one year makes it all worthwhile because I know for a fact, money can never buy the experience I have gained.

Of course, I have made it this far in my career not by my efforts alone but through the many friends whom have extended assistance and support when I needed them the most. With this in mind, I thank God for this whole year that I have gone through as it has made me a better person and opened my eyes to the limitless possibility of the human capabilities. To my dad and beloved Adeline, many thanks for supporting my career decision and constantly giving me moral support whenever I was not on top of my game. Not forgetting my Immediate Officer (a.k.a supervisor), Ang Gaik Hoon, for your patience and guidance throughout this one year. To be honest, I didn't quite like the way she handled me initially because she was as blunt and straight-to-the-point as myself! It didn't go well at first as I was very uncomfortable with her style. However, as the months go by, I have seen the truth and wisdom in her guidance and it has changed the way I perceive her. Ah Hoon, many thanks again for your tutelage and I apologize for all the mistakes I have committed this year. I look forward to continue working with you in this industry!

To all my fellow friends whom have made the leap of faith and placed their trust in a rookie agent, I am deeply indebted to them. It is general knowledge that the first year is the "make-it-or-break-it" year which means an agent would either survive this year or quit the industry. In spite of this, these kind souls got their very first policy from me and thanks to them, I managed to sail through my first year in this industry!

Naturally, I can't forget to thank my university course mate and colleague, Allen Ong, for introducing me to this industry as well as my Groups Sales Manager (GSM), Kwek Chee Lee, whom have constantly motivated me with your pep talks. Till date, I enjoyed every single conversation I ever had with Chee Lee as he is one of the most positive individuals I have ever met (Whenever I had a conversation with him, he was always able to transfer his "positivity" to me!). To all my colleagues in SG PJ Agency, thank you so much for the knowledge and support you guys (and girls) have given me! The "thank-you-list" can go on indefinitely because I have so many people to thank! However, I am about to head to the airport to catch a flight to China and I have to cut it short for this entry (I will be away from 4th till 15th September). To end this entry, once again I would like to thank every individual out there whom have helped me throughout this short first-year in this industry. God bless you all!

P.S : In my previous post, 20 Ways To Impress Your Interviewer, I mentioned that I attended an interview with Financial Planning Association Malaysia (FPAM) for a scholarship in Certified Financial Planner (CFP) course. As if it was a gift to commemorate my first anniversary, I was told by Patricia from FPAM that I have been awarded the scholarship! Woohoo! My classes will start next month and in two years time, I will be a Certified Financial Planner! Wheee!!!

My Cyst...

2007-09-01T00:37:00.001+08:00

About a month ago, my elder sister went for her regular pap smear test at a local hospital. As fate would have it, the hospital she went to was having some health check with the pap smear (it's in a package) and my sister took up the offer. To her surprise, the check up indicated that she had a cyst on her right ovary which has the dimension of 7cm by 4cm. The gynecologist then told my sister to return for a subsequent check up after her period. Few days ago, she went back to her gynecologist and was told that she need to have the cyst removed. By then, the cyst was already 8cm by 4cm.

On Friday 9am, she was admitted to Gleneagles Ampang Hospital and at 1130am, she had her surgery which took about one and half hours. I visited her at about 2pm but she was in no condition to speak to me since the drug has not worn off yet. Her beloved, Tom, who was with her the whole day had to return to my sister's apartment to grab some stuff and I stayed with my sister until the doctor who performed the surgery on my sister came at about 515pm. By then, my dad had arrived and Tom had returned and we followed the doctor to another room to have a look at the cyst. Initially, there was a bucket on the table (which is roughly the size of a KFC bucket) and two smaller bottles on top of it with some flesh in it. For a moment, I thought the doctor was going to take one of the smaller bottles and show us the cyst (it didn't register in my mind that the bottle could not have contained a cyst that is 8cm by 4cm). The doctor then put aside the bottles and opened the bucket. Lo and behold! He took out the cyst which shocked everyone in the room. It was the size of a freaking grape fruit! (Take a look at the pictures below!) The kind doctor went on to tell us that he had to perform something like a c-section incision to remove the cyst and from the initial observation, the cyst was not malignant. Of course, he also added that the cyst will be sent to lab for further tests and he can't be sure until the results are out.

The cyst which was the size of a grape fruit

As of this moment, my sister is currently recuperating in the hospital and she is expected to be discharged this coming Monday. The amazing thing about this is that my sister didn't even feel any pain or discomfort while she was having this huge cyst. Thank God that she went for her regular pap smear and check up else she wouldn't have known about it. This surgery cost her a whopping RM 10,000 and this does not include the room and board as well as other miscellaneous hospital charges. So to my dear readers, please... please (I can't emphasize this enough!) go for regular medical check ups as it might save your life!

Ratatouille!

2007-08-28T16:06:00.001+08:00

No, I am not going to write a review on this movie so you need not roll your eyes. (Though I must say it was a pretty good and meaningful show!) All of you would have probably watched this show by now and know the story. I am going to share in this entry a few statements made by a few characters in Ratatouille (pronounced as Rat-a-too-ee) which inspired me. Here goes;

This conversation took place in front of a store that sells items that kills rats.
... omitted parts
Remy's dad : This is the way things are, you can't change nature.
Remy : Change IS nature dad, the part that we can influence, and it starts when we decide (walks away)
Remy's dad : Where are you going?
Remy : With luck... forward!

This simple exchange between father and son reminds me of how the society at large is. Whenever they think it is not achievable, they will try to impose upon you that you too can't achieve what they failed to achieve. At the end of the movie, Remy did achieve his dream which is to be a chef despite the odds stacked against him (he is a rat for crying out loud!). The moral of the story is simple, if you truly believe you can reach the stars, go ahead and try! Society is conditioned to be your biggest dream-destroyer but never-ever let anyone tell you that you can't!

"The only thing predictable about life, is it's unpredictability" -Remy

Amen to this statement! We always try to predict what we can and cannot do. However, like this statement made by Remy, we can never predict life! I personally do not believe that our life is dictated by feng-shui or luck or some crystal bracelet. All we can do is to face life's unpredictability head on and always look at the positive side of the coin in order to overcome whatever life has to throw at us.

"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and themselves to our judgement. We thrive on negative criticism which is fun to write and to read but the bitter truth we critics must face is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece junk is probably more meaningful than our critism designating itself but there are times when the critic truly risks something that is in the discovery and defence of the new. The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations... the new needs friends. Last night I experienced something new. An extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source. To say both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions about fine cooking is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core. In the past I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau's famous motto "Anyone can cook" but I realize only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist but a great artist can come from anywhere. It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius now cooking at Gusteaus'who is, in this critic's opinion nothing less than the finest chef in France. I'll be returning to Gusteau's soon, hungry for more" -Food critic Anton Ego on Remy's cooking

As Anton Ego beautifully mentioned in his comment, it is always easier to criticize others since the critic has little to risk and general public thrives on negative views. It is usually individuals who write scathing remarks on others that have a large following (I know my previous entries have generated a lot of interest amongst my friends as well as cost me a few friends as well. That is why I have stopped criticizing others unnecessarily). Instead of viciously criticizing what the other has or hasn't done, we should take put ourselves in his/her boots. Could we have done a better job? (You'll definitely say yes... now, nod with me in agreement that you will be able to do a better job). Since that's the case, why don't you take over whatever the one you are criticizing is doing? That would remove the need for you to criticize (You will not be stressed out and your relationship with the other would not suffer. Often I have encountered individuals who criticize their friends, employers or anything under the sun but they do little or nothing to help remedy the problem! If you just focus all your "criticizing-energy" into finding a solution for the problem caused by the one you are criticizing, you will soon find that it wasn't a such a big issue after all!

In addition, Anton Ego's comments also mentioned that "not everyone can become a great a artist but a great artist can come from anywhere". This statement brilliantly illustrates that your environment or background should not be your excuse for not succeeding in life! Individuals such as Lee Sheng Chow (read "Blind But Standing Tall") can obtain a PHD despite being blind clearly shows that we human beings have limitless ability to achieve our dreams! All it takes is that you believe in your capabilities wholeheartedly and work hard (and smart!) based on your beliefs... the rest will fall in place naturally.

It is the first time an animation have inspired me this much. After watching this with my beloved Adel, I felt that my "motivation-batteries" have been recharged. To my readers, I would encourage you to watch Ratatouille and I hope it will inspire you as much as it had inspired me! Cheers!

Leader Of The Largest Nation!

2007-08-28T16:00:00.000+08:00

Saw this cartoon panel by Bizarro in today's The Star comic section (28 August 2007) which made me laugh out loud (literally!). I just had to cut it out and share it with you. The question for now is; Are you a leader of this great nation as well? Cheers!

Still Waiting

2007-08-28T15:25:00.001+08:00

As you are aware, my mum lost her battle to cancer March last year and the medical and living costs incurred by my family was astronomical. Thanks to the medical insurance policy, the 80% of RM 100,000++ spent on her treatment was covered. However, there are still so many individuals out there who are not covered either by their company's insurance or have any personal policies. In this article featured in The Sunday Star's Fit4Life page SF3 (26th August 2007), it shares the frustrations of a cancer patient, Belinda Bateman, in getting financial aid. Belinda, like most individuals out there, thinks that she is sufficiently covered by her company's insurance and did not invest in a policy of her own. However, the moment she was diagnosed with cancer, her company told her to resign after paying for her lumpectomy as she was now a liability to them. Having not much savings and no income, she had to turn to Social Welfare Department and Social Security Organisation (SOCSO) for financial assistance. Unfortunately, due to all the bureaucratic (bullsh*t) red tape, both organizations had to take months to "investigate". Some of you might be aware that you can withdraw your EPF savings for critical illness treatment. Belinda knew this but even with 4th stage cancer and a 3-year old child to feed, EPF had courtesy to turn away a dying woman and ask her to wait for two to three months before she can withdraw her own hard earned money for treatment! Belinda's case clearly illustrates the importance of medical insurance and if you have the illusion that your company will bail you out when you are in need, please pray hard that your company is not as heartless as the one Belinda was working with. (I will pray for you too since you are willing to risk your life at the hands of your employer!) Cheers!

Stay Happy At Work

2007-08-28T14:50:00.001+08:00

This is an interesting article which came at the right time as it was published just as my beloved Adel was having some office problems. (Obviously, she was quite unsettled by it!) Featured in The Star Metro Classifieds (21st August 2007), Philip Lee shares on how one can have a blissful working environment. Getting on the boss' good side and being receptive to constructive criticisms is some of the ways to be get there. It was also mentioned in this article that you should never-ever talk negatively/criticize others (one of my principles as well). It reflects badly on you and no doubt any individual who enjoys criticizing his colleagues/boss will be the last on the "trustworthy-list" amongst his peers. Having said that, you should also reach out to your colleagues and find a common ground with them. Your colleagues are the people you face every day at work and the last thing you want to do is to have conflicts with them which ultimately means misery for everyone. This editorial is indeed a useful article and do take your time to download and read. Have a good read and cheers!

Peak Performance

2007-08-28T14:35:00.000+08:00

It's been more than a week since I last updated my blog. This is due to the fact that I did not return to my office for more than a week and without my office scanner, I can 't do nuts. This article which I am sharing today was featured in The Star Metro Classifieds (20 August 2007) which touches on the rituals or practices one can perform in order to continuously bring out the best in yourself. Of all the strategies mentioned in this article, the ones I can identify with are;

Visualizing my success in an event/presentation
Wear clothes that will make me feel confident
Positive self-talk and positive imagery
Mingling with individuals who are excellent models of mental toughness
Maintaining a consistent, organized schedule

The others mentioned in this article are pretty good ways as well and I will try to incorporate more of it into my "peak performance rituals". Personally, I hope you will benefit from this article and always be on your peak performance! Have a good read and cheers!

20 Ways To Impress Your Interviewer

2007-08-16T14:18:00.001+08:00

To be honest, I have little experience when it comes to interviews. Ever since I joined the Risk Management Industry a.k.a Insurance, the thought of attending interviews seem foreign to me. (I did attend a scholarship interview for Certified Financial Planner in Financial Planning Association of Malaysia yesterday. If only this article was published yesterday, I would have aced the interview! LoL) Nonetheless, I saw this article in my favourite section of The Star daily, Metro Classifieds (16th August 2007) and I thought it would be useful to for readers of my blog (yes, YOU!). It was written by Neen James who is a motivational speaker and trainer in the States. Basically, this editorial highlights 20 to-do list if you want to impress the person who will decide whether or not you get the job. It never occured to me that using a nice pen and interviewing the interviewer would make an impact during the interview! LoL. Have a good read and cheers!

An Income Stream For You?

2007-08-14T15:56:00.000+08:00

In the same magazine Personal Money (August 2007 edition), another article on insurance annuity plans was featured. It basically explains what annuity plans are and how to utilize such plans to create a steady income stream after retirement. Do take your time to download the article and read. Have a good read and cheers!

EPF And You (Part 2)

2007-08-14T15:43:00.000+08:00

This is the second installment of the article... Cheers!

EPF And You (Part 1)

2007-08-14T15:30:00.000+08:00

I came across this magazine Personal Money (August 2007 edition) which featured an article on EPF and retirement planning. It is a long article but it gives a good overview on the do's and don'ts when planning for retirement at various stages in life. I won't be explaining much since the article itself is 9 pages long and due to its length, I'll be uploading it in two parts because blogspot only permits a maximum of 8MB picture uploads per post. Do take your time to download and read them. Have a good read and cheers!

My Writing Style

2007-08-07T23:41:00.000+08:00

I was chatting with this mighty fine lady over Yahoo! Messenger and we chatted as though we were friends who lost touch for a long time. We talked about everything under the sun (even though we met last Friday night! LoL). After a while, she touched on the way I used to write my blog which struck me as an interesting conversation. The conversation were as follows;

... (omitted parts)

Uncle Chan : my apologies
Uncle Chan : was on the phone
Uncle Chan : you still there?
Drumsticks : yup still here
Drumsticks : its alright.. no worries
Uncle Chan : busy busy blogging eh?
Drumsticks : yeahh.. damn hard to write ler
Drumsticks : deproving in english
Uncle Chan : deproving...?
Drumsticks : yeah
Uncle Chan : is there such a word?
Drumsticks : the fact that i said deproving
Drumsticks : LoL
Uncle Chan : LoL
Uncle Chan : your England has deteriorated
Drumsticks : yeah
Drumsticks : ur writing style has changed too
Drumsticks : less agressive
Drumsticks : more civilised
Uncle Chan : Yeah... i did that on purpose
Uncle Chan : LoL
Drumsticks : really?
Uncle Chan : more civilised <--- what a way of putting it into words
Drumsticks : its true its true!
Drumsticks : less fucking words
Drumsticks : but i truly enjoyed ur writing
Uncle Chan : my uncivilised writing?
Drumsticks : yeah hahah..
Uncle Chan : fucking = LoL
Uncle Chan : Can I use this script in my blog?
Drumsticks : LoL
Drumsticks : go ahead.. honoured
Drumsticks : hahah
Drumsticks : btw, how come u did that on purpose?
Drumsticks : like changing ur style of writing?
Uncle Chan : Cause I want my blog to be viewed by a wider and older audience
Drumsticks : ooohh
Drumsticks : btw, ur articles are pretty insighful
Drumsticks : hahah
Drumsticks : but i miss ur personal posts
Uncle Chan : yeah... working on that
Uncle Chan : two in the pipeline
Uncle Chan : one is definitely this
Uncle Chan : and the other is about Chinaman and western mentality
Uncle Chan : Looking at my blog... it has somehow turned boring
Uncle Chan : LoL
Drumsticks : i guess coz it is missing the personal post like u used to do before
Drumsticks : u know what i mean rite
Drumsticks : sorry i dont find ur blog boring in anyway at all
Drumsticks : haha
Drumsticks : coz i still visit it
Uncle Chan : LoL
Uncle Chan : I am going to post some scathing remarks then
Uncle Chan : spice up my blog
Uncle Chan : LoL
Drumsticks : yeahhh!!
Uncle Chan : eleh... nanti kena kutuk like mad by my colleagues
Uncle Chan : siao liao
Drumsticks : hahhaha
... (omitted parts)

This conversation made me realize how much I have changed since my MMU days. Most of my blog's readers loved the way I used to write (aggressive, fucking language... LoL. Drumsticks, the language you use is so funny!) and that was what separated my blog from the rest. I admit I have consciously toned down my language in this blog because I personally think the more aggressive I am, the less effective it is for me to relay the message of that particular entry. Then again, I think I should reconfigure the filter I impose upon myself and bring back more "Uncle Chan style" into my blog. LoL. Drumstick, thanks for the honest sharing on your thoughts about my blog, I really appreciate it. I look forward in creating more "personal posts" in the future. Cheers!

Five Ways To Retain Talent

2007-08-07T16:24:00.000+08:00

Most often than not, employers tend to overlook the needs and development of their staff. Not to mention that recognition is rarely given to staff whom performed well since most bosses have the mentality of "it's their duty to perform when they work for me". As a result, most staff lack the motivation and enthusiasm to improve themselves and ultimately, they will leave the company for another better paying job. This cycle goes on and on and employers will have to train new staff each time the veteran leaves. Imagine the amount of time and money wasted in that process! All of these can be resolved if the employers make the effort to retain their staff. This is exactly what was shared by David Simpson, the director of Team Building Asia in today's The Star Metro Classifieds (7 August 2007). He outlined five general strategies to further boost the retention rate in a company which are to support the employees' values, needs, development, frequent motivation and most importantly, give recognition when it is due. Regardless of whether you are an employer or not at the moment, I earnestly believe that the values listed in this article will improve your management skills since we all have to manage people every day of our lives! Have a good read and cheers!

Breaking Barriers

2007-08-07T16:05:00.001+08:00

In today's The Star Startwo (7 August 2007) Women section page T10 featured an article on women's right to recognition at work. It is an interesting article as it shares the success story of two women namely Anusoorya Themudu and Nafisah Radin who broke through the social norms where women are often thought of as the weaker and less resilient sex. The former is now the Human Resources Director (Corporate) of General Electric Malaysia and she encourages women to break the cultural barriers where women are generally introverts and often feel guilty to make the right decisions. The other featured individual, Nafisah Radin had to juggle between raising a family of 4 and her business in two separate states for seven years. During her confinement period, she even bought a land and designed her home! For her outstanding efforts, she was awarded Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Talk about women power! Have a good read on these two outstanding women and cheers!

Be A Creative Genius

2007-08-02T15:53:00.001+08:00

Today's Metro Classifieds (2 August 2007) teaches us ways to think out of the box. It shares that we need to seize opportunities daily to tap into our creative senses, challenge general assumptions, take risks and experience failure, have a different perspective on problems as well as to think ambiguously (This is something new since we were always taught to have vivid thoughts! LoL). Do download the article and have a good read! Cheers!

How To Detect Financial Defects

2007-08-02T15:43:00.000+08:00

This article was featured in The Star Starbiz (1 August 2007) page B7 and was written by Ooi Kok Hwa who is a licensed investment adviser. Basically, it shares on the six elements one should look into before investing in any companies which consist of liquidity, profitability, management, borrower communications, external environment and strategy of the company. The title itself is pretty self-explanatory and I won't dwell too much on what is discussed here. Have a good read and cheers!

What's Your Personality Type?

2007-08-01T10:06:00.000+08:00

You Are An ENFJ

The Giver

You strive to maintain harmony in relationships, and usually succeed.
Articulate and enthusiastic, you are good at making personal connections.
Sometimes you idealize relationships too much - and end up being let down.
You find the most energy and comfort in social situations ... where you shine.

In love, you are very protective and supporting.
However, you do need to "feel special" - and it's quite easy for you to get jealous.

At work, you are a natural leader. You can help people discover their greatest potential.
You would make a good writer, human resources director, or psychologist.

How you see yourself: Trusting, idealistic, and expressive

When other people don't get you, they see you as: Bossy, inappropriate, and loud

What's Your Personality Type?

Achieve Your Targets

2007-07-31T17:09:00.000+08:00

In today's The Star Metro Classifieds (31 July 2007), an article written by Lorraine Pirihi shares that one of the main reasons we fail to achieve our targets is because we lack proper personal management skills. The society at large believes that the number of hours we work equals to being productive and thanks to this mindset, people are always complaining that they do not have time. I personally believe that each of us always have time, it's just that we do not manage our time properly. The notion of long hours equals to being productive is utter nonsense since we usually spend most of our time working on unproductive activities instead of our actual goals. As Lorraine aptly puts it, "it is a matter of defining your priorities" and once we have an effective system to manage ourselves, the common rant of "not having enough time" will be a thing in the past. Have a good read and cheers!

Blind, But Standing Tall

2007-07-31T14:36:00.000+08:00

The power of attitude and positive thinking never cease to amaze me. These two elements always bring out the best of every individual and it beautifully proven and illustrated in biographies of successful people. One should take note that most of these successful characters were almost never born with a silver spoon. Many of them had to endure countless hardship which most of us will probably just throw in the towel and give up. Through the experiences they accumulated in life, they emerged as a better and stronger person instead of being cowed into straying off the pathway to success.

One of such remarkable individuals had his story featured the Sunday Star (29th July 2007). The protagonist of this article, Lee Sheng Chow, beautifully demonstrates that being blind was never an obstacle. It never stopped him in obtaining a degree, starting a massage business and have a family of his own. As if a cruel joke was played on him by God, he and his vision impaired wife was blessed with a daughter who has cerebral palsy but Sheng Chow never once blamed God. Instead, he had the grace to thank God for for the blessings he had receive and ask for His forgiveness each night! To me, that was the most amazing showcase of faith in the Lord and the power of positive attitude towards life. I salute Mr.Lee Sheng Chow for his awe-inspiring faith and attitude and I will always take his words,"Never, never, never, never, ever give up" to heart. Do take the time to download this article and read. I hope it will inspire you as much as it inspired me. Have a good read and cheers!

More Than Just Surviving

2007-07-31T14:17:00.001+08:00

In the Sunday Star's Fit4Life section (29 July 2007), I chanced upon this article by Loh Foon Fong which shared the experience of two breast cancer survivors. The general population generally assumes that breast cancer only afflicts older women but Siew Mei Quin was diagnosed with cancer in her mid-30s. She even shared that through this experience, she became a positive individual! (I have said many times, your attitude on life will make a difference). The other survivor, Wong Mee Yee, had mastectomy (total removal of the breast) at the age of 52 and now she's actively involved in dragon boat races all over the world. It is amazing that both these women took things in their stride and through this harrowing experience, they came out stronger and more positive than before. It is my hope that readers of my blog would realize the importance of having a positive outlook of life and have regular breast examinations as it was illustrated by the survivors, early detection and treatment is the best cure for breast cancer. Have a good read and cheers!

Managing Risk Is Key In Volatile World

2007-07-31T14:00:00.001+08:00

The Star Metro Classifieds (28th July 2007, Saturday) published an article by Marc Ronez from the Asian Risk Management Institute (ARiMI). I found the article very interesting as it dealt with corporate risk management which is something very new to me (I am still learning the ropes of individual risks!). This article gives a general overview of the elements involved Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) which involves having the right risk control system and processes, financial vulnerability, sensitive to surrounding changes as well as proper adaption of new technologies. Despite all that is said, the author also acknowledges that it is not easy to develop and implement an ERM programme successfully. However,it doesn't mean that budding entrepreneurs/businessmen should procrastinate in implementing ERM. As we are well aware of, knowing and realizing the risks involved are different issues altogether. To know is to be aware of but to realize is to acknowledge and take concrete steps to address the issue altogether. Have a good read and cheers!

When People Get Angry

2007-07-24T15:06:00.001+08:00

When People Get Angry by Daniel Theyagu featured in today's The Star Metro Classifieds (24 July 2007). In my previous entry Dealing with Anger, there were seven suggestions on how to manage your personal anger. This article in this entry provides suggestions on how to manage others who are angry. The author categorized them as customers, bosses and colleagues and friends. Despite what's said in here, I personally think that the most important criteria one must have before diffusing the anger of others is to control one's temper. If one can't even contain his/her anger, I doubt he/she will be able to negate the anger of others. Have a good read and cheers!

My Good Friend Becky!

2007-07-23T17:03:00.000+08:00

This is the first time I am doing this so I have no idea if I'm doing it right. For this entry, I would like to express my gratitude to my dear friend Becky. A small and petite little lady, she moves around in a black "yet-to-be-pimped" Kelisa. However, having a small frame doesn't mean that she's a push over! Oh yeah, she loves her 3 year old nephew to bits! (She's spoiling him with toys and heaps of love). Being the youngest in her family have certainly molded her into a loving mum. Though she's only 2 days older than Yours Truly, she treats me like her son and I'm so humbled by the love she showers on me. Due to her abundant love for me, she brought me to Secret Recipe couple of months back in Metro Prima Jusco and introduced me to the awesome Ice Cream. We went-dutch on that outing but we vowed to have another round of Secret Recipe Ice Cream sometime soon (I hope she'll treat me this time!).

Becky, Thanks for introducing me to Secret Recipe Ice Cream! You know I love ya!

21 Steps To A Great Retirement

2007-07-23T10:46:00.000+08:00

This article on financial planning will be the last article that is going to be featured in the Sunday Star Focus section. The last article, published in The Sunday Star Focus pages F28-29, gives a general overview on how an individual should plan for their retirement. The articles featured are starting to sound like a broken tape recorder since it emphasizes on saving young, wealth protection and creation, etc. However, do take note of the message they're trying to relay across as retirement planning is a must and shouldn't be taken lightly. Have a good read and cheers!

Women's World: Check This

2007-07-23T10:41:00.000+08:00

Last Sunday's The Sunday Star (22 July 2007), Dr. Nor Ashikin Mokhtar wrote an article on women's health check. It was featured in the Health At Large Section page SF7 and it covers the various tests available for women such as mammograms, pap smears, ECG, etc. Women folk out there, do download and read it as regular check ups can and will save your lives. Cheers!

Good Leaders Take Blame, Give Credit

2007-07-23T10:35:00.001+08:00

In last Saturday's The Star Metro Classifieds (21 July 2007), an article on leadership was featured. The header says it all. Do give it a read and if you're a manager or soon-to-be-one, do take to heart that good leaders do take blame and give credit (Even though it's rare!). Have a good read and cheers!

Emotional Trauma...

2007-07-20T00:30:00.000+08:00

A week ago, my buddy, TKF's dad was admitted to Kuala Lumpur Hospital early in the morning because he had difficulties in breathing. At that point of time, I was in Penang for work. Coincidentally, I was going back to KL on that day itself. It took me the usual three and a half hours drive to get back to KL and I immediately rushed to the hospital. During my visit, his dad has recovered considerably though he was still hooked onto a breathing apparatus. Looking at his report, the initial diagnosis was pneumonia. It was a huge relief. However, as it was only an initial diagnosis, the doctor instructed TKF's dad to stay for further tests and observation. Monday came and his dad was transferred to another ward. I called TKF and everything was fine. Three days later, I gave him a call again to see if his dad has checked out of the ward and TKF solemnly broke the news to me; his dad was diagnosed with lung cancer. The news shocked me. Sh*t. It was so sudden and it reminded me what I had kept inside for so long...

Two and a half years ago my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer. My whole family was in shock and we went through a lot during my mum's year long battle against this disease. Back then, I kept it all to myself without letting a single soul know and life went on as usual. I returned home as often as I could but each time I went back, my mum's condition deteriorated. I accompanied my mum to her treatments whenever possible and even join in the weekly prayer meetings we have with our Catholic friends in our home. However, it was a losing battle. In October 2006, my mum completed her chemotherapy and she went back for a check up in November 2006. To our horror, the subsequent check up showed that instead of being cured, it has spread to the lungs and the doctor immediately sent my mum back to chemotherapy. Not long after that it went from her lungs to her brain and subsequently her back bone. From being able to walk on her feet, she was reduced to using a walking aide and in the later stages, she could barely walk due the the excruciating pain (despite having strong pain killers) and she had to use the wheel chair.

On the fateful day of 27 February 2006, I received a phone call from my dad in the morning telling me that my mum was hospitalized because she couldn't breathe. Dropping whatever I was doing (back then I was doing my final year project) and I rushed to Damansara Specialist Hospital Intensive Care Unit where my mum was warded with my beloved Adel (I didn't have a car back then and Adel drove me there from Cyberjaya). Till today, I can vividly remember how anxious, worried and helpless I felt when I saw her lying on the bed. She was on morphine drips to help ease her pain but even then I could see that she was in pain. It was a painful sight as each breath she took looked as though she was desperately and agonizingly gasping for air. Once a tad chubby woman, she was reduced to half of what she was and since it was an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), we were only allowed limited time with her. Every time we left the hospital, each phone call we receive always kept my family and I on the edge because we will be praying hard it was not from the hospital bearing bad news. Can you imagine the anxiety we had to go through?

The next five days was literally hell. The doctor already told us that my mum will not make it and all they could do is to provide her 'quality-living' for her remaining days. I was grateful that most of my close buddies came each day to provide moral support. After four agonizing days in the hospital, as fate would have it, my family finally gotten permission to station one family member in the ICU room to accompany my mum and I was the chosen one since I need not report to work the next day. Due to some miscommunication, the night shifts' supervisor didn't receive the orders from the doctor and she booted me out of the room despite my protests (I never blamed her because she was only doing her job) and I notified my dad immediately. After much argument (profanities everywhere!), the nurse finally let me back in and less than five minutes I was back in the dark room saying my prayers for my mum, I noticed her pulse started to drop drastically and I immediately called for a nurse. The nurses did what they could as and I was told to leave the room. All I could do then was to call my family. A brief moment later, a nurse came up to me and asked me to go in. They summoned the doctor on duty but before he arrived, the senior nurse looked at me, shook her head and told me to say my last words. I couldn't help but cried like a baby as I told my mum these exact words in Cantonese,

"Do not worry mum and go in peace as the three of us will take care of dad..."

The moment I finished uttering those words, my mum shed a tear and took her last breath... She was gone. It was 0019 on 3rd March 2006 when my mum returned to the Lord. Till this very day, that scene and the feeling of helplessness and anxiety was carved deeply into my memory. This is why I can empathize with TKF as he is going through a similar circumstances. To my buddy TKF, my prayers are with you and your family. Stay strong my friend regardless of what is to come.

Dealing with Anger

2007-07-19T16:25:00.001+08:00

Part of the ongoing self help articles featured in the Star Metro Classifieds, this Wednesday (18 July 2007) gave seven tips on how to manage one's anger. I never knew drinking warm water with a tinge of lemon has a calming effect on the body. LoL. Anyway, have a good read! Cheers!

Negarakuku

2007-07-17T16:45:00.001+08:00

One of my friends forwarded me this YouTube clip. It's in Hokkien and Mandarin. It pokes fun at Malaysia Government and police. Have a good time watching this clip ~!

Do They Think I'm That Stupid?

2007-07-17T15:49:00.000+08:00

From : +6281944234522
Congratulations! Anda memenangi CEK TUNAI RM 11.000 from MAXIS. info sila hubungi perkhidmatan MAXIS 006281342325777 http://www. hotlink. com. my

That was the SMS I received during lunch today. The moment I read the SMS, I couldn't help but literally laugh out loud. (LoL) Who in their right mind would fall for such a stupid SMS? Let me point out the flaws of this text message. First of all, the language used is a mixture of Bahasa Malaysia and English which I doubt Maxis would be make such amateur mistakes such as 'Anda memenangi CEK TUNAI RM 11.000 from Maxis'. Secondly, the reward of RM11 (it's RM 11.000 not RM 11,000) doesn't attract me at all. In fact, I would pay that sucker RM 11 to stop him from sending me such stupid text messages.

Moral of the story: If you want to con others, please use proper English/Bahasa Malaysia and ensure your punctuation is correct. After all, we are educated Malaysians you know! LoL

The Sky's The Limit

2007-07-17T00:07:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday's (14 July 2007) The Star Metro Classifieds featured this article written by Nido Qubein which talked about being the star performer of a company. All of those criteria listed here are already known to most of us such as being a go-getter, share knowledge, team player, etc but I doubt many of us realize the importance of it. Nonetheless, I would like to emphasize the benefits of sharing knowledge. I have not been in any office politics due to my early exit from my previous employment but the short three months I was there, I have seen so many minor matters that have been blown out of proportion due to selfishness. It doesn't take a genius to know what resulted from that and relationships were strained. You have nothing to lose from sharing what you know with others cause it will only reinforce what you already know and it will strengthen the bonds between you and your peers. Plus, those who share their knowledge freely with others who will gain more as others will return always the favour. Hey, you don't expect others to do unto you what you have NOT done unto others right? In short, sharing helps you reaffirms what you already know, build better relationships and reduces the need to 'implore' others to assist you since those you helped are more than willing to return the favour. So what is there to lose by sharing? Hmm... I think I'm getting too carried away. You get my point. Do download the article and read. Cheers!

Shiny or Shabby Golden Years?

2007-07-16T23:48:00.000+08:00

This time on The Sunday Star's (15 July 2007) Focus on Financial Planning, the case used here is about a middle-aged couple ,Daniel, 54 and Debra, 51, whom did not have proper financial planning since young. This article paints a rather bleak out come even if they started a 'crash course' in planning for their retirement. Just imagine this; to cover up for their shortfalls, they have to invest RM 9,500 per month in order to have sufficient funds for their retirement and Daniel would have to delay his retirement till the age of 64 (I wonder which company will be so kind to continue his employment. After all, they can always hire a younger individual with lesser salary and perks and he/she can still do the same job...) and now they would have to really save aggressively (compared to what they would need to save 10 or 20 years ago).

However, like the article indicates, the purpose of painting this bleak scenario is not to depress the readers but to highlight the importance of having proper financial planning since young to avoid such issues in the future. It takes a little sacrifice today to have a comfortable living in the future or do we wait till the very last minute and lament at how stupid we were for not saving enough? Now, that's food for thought...

Stand Out, Get Noticed

2007-07-12T15:31:00.000+08:00

Metro Classifieds in The Star (12 July 2007) featured an article teaches us to stand out and be remembered in order to succeed. Regardless of whether you're in a large organization or in the sales/service industry, being outstanding and enabling others to remember you is a 'must-have' criteria. I love the way the author, David Avrin, puts it bluntly in the last paragraph (very aptly I must add!),

'Remember, the greatest enemy of success in business is anonymity. If people do not know who you are, they cannot buy what you are selling!'

Have a good read! Cheers!

How To Strike A Balance

2007-07-12T15:26:00.001+08:00

Once again, The Sunday Star (8th July 2007) Focus page F28 and F29 featured an article on financial planning. This week's case study revolves around a married couple Charles and Claire with a net income of RM15,000 and two young kids. The scenario revolves around planning for retirement and education fund for their children. Have a good read! Cheers!

Aftermath of Breast Cancer

2007-07-12T15:07:00.000+08:00

Whenever I see articles related to breast cancer, I always take note (No, I'm not a breast freak!) and see what it has to say. As most of you know, I lost my mum to this dread disease that's why I feel somewhat 'attached' to it. Hmmm... now I'm on a crusade against breast cancer!(LoL. That's a bit over dramatic!) Basically this article discusses on the various breast reconstructive methods available and it was published on The Sunday Star Health At Large section page SF6. Have fun reading! Cheers!

Wedding bells...

2007-07-09T13:05:00.001+08:00

On 7 July 2007, I would believe that hundreds of couples nationwide registered or had their wedding reception on this supposedly auspicious day. My colleagues and I were saying, everyone was attending someone else's wedding on that day itself. Being part of the 'crowd', I attended the wedding dinner of Your's Truly's good friend, Pui Fun at her sleepy hometown of Ipoh. Since I wasn't from Ipoh, I had no idea where the restaurant was and after some last minute (and somewhat chaotic) arrangement, I met up with Audrey Ting (whom I have not met for years since we went into our own majors back in MMU) and both of us found our way to the venue ahead of time (with the much needed help from the bride herself). It was a simple wedding reception which only her relatives (the bride's side of the family) and close friends attended.

The wedding dinner started at 8pm sharp after every guest was seated. Surprisingly, the dishes served were quite good and being a Chinese wedding dinner, the guests were quite loud especially the older uncles and aunts who had a few rounds of liquor. Seated at the table with Yours Truly were three of Pui Fun's ex-house mates from MMU, Audrey, Joyce, Yong, Eugene and Siew Goh. The drinks we had started out pretty mild as we had soft drinks until Audrey started the ball rolling by having the first glass of beer. Soon, Yours Truly followed suit and with the combined power of influencing of the both of us, we eventually made everyone seated at our table to indulge in some warm beer (No thanks to the incompetence of the restaurant staff). Not too long after the dinner started, the bride and groom proposed a toast and true to our Chinese wedding style, we shouted out "Yam Seng" thrice and both star of the night went from table to table to chat with the guests. This was when all of us realized that we didn't bring a camera and we had to settle with camera phones.

From left: Eugene, Pui Fun, Yours Truly and Yong

From left: Siew Goh, Joyce, Pui Fun, Audrey and Leong (Pui Fun's younger brother)

Soon after the photos were taken, we continued with our dinner and the wedding reception ended at 10pm sharp (that's a record for me as the dinner started off relatively on time and ended early!). This was followed by a brief gathering at the bride's house before we left for Penang at about 1130pm. Throughout the night, it was so clear that both the bride and groom were brimming with happiness. It was certainly a joyous occasion for the married couple and her friends as Pui Fun has come a long way since her University days. Those whom have known her as much as we did would know how much she struggled with her previous relationship due to issues which I will not discuss here. Now, she is the first amongst our batch to settle down and start a family which I really envy and respect. This is a big contrast to the trend our generation is moving towards now; careers come first and the act of starting a family comes secondary (which is why many young adults are pushing their marriage into their 30's).

To Lyk Wuai and Pui Fun, I would like to take this opportunity to dedicate this entry to you. May you be continuously be blessed with health, happiness and abundance in life. I'm truly happy for you have finally found your true happiness which eluded you awhile back. God bless the both of ya!

Insights Into Wealth Cycle

2007-07-05T15:21:00.000+08:00

This is another article regarding financial management. It was featured on Thursday's (5th July 2007) The Star Starbiz section page B10. The four cycles listed in this article are wealth creation, wealth enhancement, wealth preservation and wealth distribution. However, the article also highlighted that most individuals often neglect the wealth preservation and distribution cycle which could result in their accumulated wealth being wiped out in a single blow. Like the famous Robert T.Kiyosaki said," It's not how much you make, it's how much you keep, and how many generations you keep it." Cheers!

Worklife Issues

2007-07-05T14:56:00.000+08:00

It's amazing how many of us take for granted the wonderful articles featured in the Star. I have heard many of my friends and colleagues alike complain that newspapers are dull and boring (other than the Comics Section) but I beg to differ. Each day of the week, the Star Metro Classifieds Central Edition always provide articles that helps us improve ourselves in numerous aspects of our life. I just read the articles entitled "Perfect Your Balancing Act" (The Star Metro Classifieds 4th July 2007) and its subsequent section "Missing In Action?" (The Star Metro Classifieds 5th July 2007) which are written by Anna Murphy. The author emphasizes the few important aspects of our life which are; Career, Family and Friends, Leisure, Continuous Education, Spiritual Growth, Community Work as well as Finance Plan (She didn't touch on Health though... Wonder why?) Do take your time to read it as I truly believe and concur that success is not measured by excelling in one of the areas but to be successful is to have a balanced life that excels in all areas. Cheers!

How To Invest In The Right Business

2007-07-05T14:43:00.000+08:00

The article "How To Invest In The Right Business" was featured on Wednesday (4 July 2007) The Star daily in Starbiz page B9. It was written by Ooi Kok Hwa who is a licensed investment advisor. This article discusses on the things one has to go through before actually investing in the company to minimize the risk. One has to understand the business you plan to invest in such as the turnover rate, type of products/services offered, integrity of the management and the margin of safety the business provides. Do take note that this is only a brief overview of how to invest but for the uninitiated, this is a good simple article to get you started into the world of shares and investments. Cheers!

Save First and Spend the Rest

2007-07-02T10:22:00.000+08:00

Once again, in yesterday's edition of the Sunday Star, they featured an article on financial planning. This time, it deals with retirement planning for young working adults at the age 24/25. The figures projected here has factored in all the necessary costs and to be honest, it is quite shocking to see that if Adeline (my beloved) and I were to get married this year, we would have to prepare a whopping RM 3.8 million retirement fund if we were to retire comfortably (we're talking about the fund to offset our daily necessities and this does not factor in the cash required for vacation/leisure purposes). Please go ahead and save this article to read and I hope this will jolt you into taking steps for retirement planning.

Note: This article was featured on The Sunday Star, 1st July 2007 in Focus Section (Page 29-30)

Trapped by plastic

2007-07-01T23:26:00.000+08:00

This is an article featured in The Star Weekend Focus 30 June 2007. It describes the danger of using credit card if one doesn't have the necessary discipline.

By ROSE YASMIN KARIM

A survey carried out by a local university has shown that 11% of bankruptcy cases were due to credit card debts and 8% of bankrupts were aged between 20 and 30.

When her parents announced they were going to cut her off financially, Sarah, 27, a flight attendant, was literally floored.

“For 27 years they picked up the tab for everything from cigarettes to cereals,” she admits.

“But when they found out Derek (the boyfriend they weren’t particularly fond off) and I were living together in the apartment they had been footing the rent for, mom and dad went ballistic and revoked all monetary privileges,” reveals Sarah.

“I had charged four credit cards to the tune of RM11,000, and that debt alone was overwhelming me. I couldn’t imagine having to pay all of my own bills, plus the credit card debt.”

Cut yourself loose: If your plastic has landed you in credit card hell, it’s time to cut it out of your life (model posing). — RAZIQ ABD SAMAT/The Star

In the end, Sarah took some pretty extreme measures and paid off her debt in four months.

“I hauled every single thing I owned out onto the lawn and sold it. When I was done, my possessions amounted to just two boxes of clothing and one box of personal papers and mementos. Then I called up each credit card company to work out deals, and a lot of them let me ‘settle’ my debt for slightly less than I owed or at least cut me some slack on miscellaneous fees and interest.”

Many young people are making similar credit mistakes without the safety net of wealthy parents to fall back on. In school, you have home economics classes that teach you how to bake a cake and how to make your own orchid plant holder, but no one ever sits you down to explain responsible credit maintenance.

A shiny new credit card promises the young adult a whole new world, but no one thinks about the potential pitfalls. Credit facilities allow people to spend money they do not actually have, but will eventually come into. Problems arise when you spend more money than you will come into.

“Credit cards are a good tool when put to the right use. A consumer doesn’t need to bring along a lot cash to purchase goods or services. For a business person, he has less receipts to compile when it comes time to submit his income tax return form, because most of his business expenses would appear on one credit card statement,” points out Hazel Ong-Archibald, 35, an agency manager with CIMB Wealth Advisors.

“The disadvantage is people can get so carried away with the concept that they can pay later that sometimes they forget to live within their means.”

A collection agent tells me the plight of one debtor he was assigned to track down: in his first year of owning a credit card, the man charged RM12,000. Twenty years later, the poor chap still hadn’t managed to settle it. Now, as a result of several late payment charges, interests, etc, his bill has ballooned to more than RM20,000. He was 56 years old.

“When I mentioned bankruptcy, he didn’t seem to care. It had become that bad. I felt awful asking him to pay up,” the collection agent says.

As Shannon, 24, a web designer, discovered three years ago, credit is not free. Like many others, she started out using her card reservedly – the occasional RM60 lip gloss, for instance, which she paid for immediately upon receiving the bill.

But then along came Christmas.

“I remember thinking to myself: I can barely get by on my measly salary, how am I supposed to buy anyone presents?” Shannon recalls.

“My three-month-old credit card seemed like the best invention in the world, so I swiped for all my presents.”

The next thing she knew, Shannon was staring at a bill of RM4,000, twice her monthly take-home pay. She panicked, and then she saw the minimum payment box – RM200 – and breathed a sigh of relief. Three years later, she still hasn’t managed to settle her outstanding balance.

“I’m being hit with interest every month,” Shannon laments. “I felt really good being able to give everyone nice presents for a change. But I didn’t know that good feeling was going to cost so much.”

According to Ong, if you only pay the minimum, you would be charged an interest of 1.5% per month or 18% per year for the outstanding balance.

“The interest payment compounds over time, and that is how many people get trapped in credit card debt,” she explains.

Some retail outlets tout zero interest, easy payment schemes using a credit card. But there is a catch. Say you want to snap up a new sound system. Instead of signing a slip for RM3,000, you sign an agreement saying RM300 will be charged to your card every month for the next 10 months. If the cardholder does not pay in full when the statement comes, then her purchase under the “Zero interest payment” scheme will be subjected to 18% interest per annum.

On top of that, there is usually an administration fee for signing up for the scheme.

Sabrina, 30, managed to service the first three instalments on a RM1,500 sofa bed, but then met with some other incidentals and couldn’t make the payments on time anymore. At the end of the 12 months, she was paying interest rates on seven months for her new sofa.

“Then again there was no way I could afford to shell out RM1,500 out of the blue just like that,” confesses Sabrina, a stylist.

Easy payment schemes like these offer a lot of convenience but it takes a great deal of discipline to make it work for you. While those who take up hire-purchase loans are protected under the Hire-Purchase Act 1967, there are no specific laws to protect those who take up easy payment schemes.

The rate of interest for the easy payment scheme is likely to be higher than that of hire-purchase since the Hire Purchase Act puts a limit on the maximum interest rate that can be charged. If you always have an outstanding balance on your credit card bill, these schemes are definitely not for you.

Banks these days are practically throwing cash and free gifts at consumers, but stay alert to changes in the terms and conditions of your credit card agreement and read the fine print.

One bank sent out cheques of RM5,000 to cardholders. Once the cheque is deposited into the cardholder’s savings account, a handling fee of RM150 is charged. Interest of 18% per annum on the outstanding balance is charged if the cardholder does not settle the monthly payment in full.

Sometimes, as customers approach their limit, the credit card company may offer to raise the limit to encourage increased spending and debt. To reel in young professionals aged 25 to 29, some banks even lower the qualification criteria.

At 18% per annum, a credit card loan is way more expensive than other types of consumer lending. You can become a bankrupt if your debt mounts to more than RM30,000. Until you are discharged as a bankrupt, you will not be able to apply for a loan.

A debt management speaker once said: “Just keep one card in case of emergency, and even then, keep it frozen in the refrigerator.”

Although this had everyone laughing, he emphasised that he was serious. So, if you have a credit card for every bank in town, it’s time to pick up the phone and start cancelling.

With interest rates at nearly 50% less than those of credit cards, some personal loan packages by banks are being viewed as an ideal way to settle your credit card debt as you repay the personal loan in fixed instalments over a period of time.

“You must, however, pay off the debt with discipline and not allow it to compound again due to an inability to service the loan repayment,” says Ong. Otherwise, you could find yourself in the same boat as Preetha, 28.

The legal assistant took a personal loan to settle her credit card debt of about RM10,000 and kept the card. As you might have guessed, it wasn’t long before she started using the card again.

“It started innocently enough,” recalls Preetha. “I used my card to pay for lunch, promising to repay it as soon as I made a withdrawal. But I never did.”

With a fixed commitment to her personal loan, Preetha found herself only able to pay the bare minimum on her credit card. It wasn’t long before she ran up a RM1,000 debt on her card, and she knew it would keep rising. She had no choice but to cut up her card.

“I’ve managed to bring it down to RM700 so far. As soon as it’s down to zero, I’m cancelling the card and getting a debit card instead – no more excuses then!” she promises.

Debit cards have become quite fashionable these days because they are virtually risk-free. Basically, they work like a prepaid card: You deposit RM1,000 in your account, and you can do up to RM1,000’s worth of spending.

You simply cannot overspend unless you top up your account. With MEPS Cash and other debit card facilities, people can learn to curb their spending, live within their means and stay out of debt.

Source: Consumer Association of Penang in the book Money Matters for Young People (2006).

Starting out...

2007-06-30T10:16:00.001+08:00

Beginning of this month, my former university, Multimedia University (MMU) has unleashed upon the working world a new batch of fresh graduates from various discipline. Being new and enthusiastic, these graduates rushed into employment and with their new found wealth, they start to think about getting more things such as a car, new clothes, new mobile phone, etc. Without calculating their finance commitments and making efforts to understand the car loan structure as well as the cost to own a car, these new working individuals rush head on to secure their first MyVi (Since this is the best bang for the buck at the moment). I can't really blame them for their lack of financial planning since I would be doing the same thing if I didn't join Great Eastern.

The reason I brought this up is because of the conversations I had with a few of my juniors whom have started working as well as some of my fellow course-mates for the past week. (The older people I met are also bad financial planners but as a case study for this entry, I have opted to talk about young working adults). Practically none of them actually calculate their expenses. The only way they know they have used up their money is when their mullahs in their banks have "mysteriously-vanished" and they have to survive on bread and water till their next paycheck comes in. When this happens, they will rant about not having enough money to spend and they can't afford to go for a vacation in Australia. Sounds familiar? To avoid such predicaments in the future, you can take a few simple steps listed below which worked for me.

Step 1: Start writing down every cent you've spent and balance your account at the end of each week.
(I can already hear some of you saying,"What? Writing down every cent I spend! That's impractical and downright stupid!")

Before you go into a frenzy to shoot down my suggestion, read on. We, human beings are very visual oriented beings and we usually act upon seeing something tangible (just like goals setting but that's for another entry) only do we realize the implications and take concrete steps to address the issue. A very simple analogy would be our usage of shower cream. Each time you take your bath, you'll see that the shower cream decreases by a small amount. This will go on until one point in time when you notice your favourite shower cream is going to run out in a day or two and naturally you will visit your nearest hypermart to get a new one (or risk not being able to shower!). You only realize you're running out of the shower gel because you constantly look at the bottle each time you take a bath. The counter we use to keep track of the gel usage is by looking at the content level in the bottle. Similarly, do you constantly look at your 'finance bottle' each time you spend? Do you have a visual counter to keep track of your 'finance bottle'? By writing down every cent you spend and balancing your account sheets at the end of each week, you will clearly know where your money goes and identify where to cut down. We all know by default that in order to save, we need to reduce our expenses. My question to you is, how would you know where to reduce when you have no idea where your money is going to? I admit it's quite hard and requires a fair bit of discipline to jot down your expenses every day but once it becomes a habit, it will be easy. Once you get this done, you will find that the act managing your expenses isn't as difficult as you thought.

Step 2: Cut your cloth according to your size

To illustrate this point, I will use an example as a case study. Ms. X, a fresh graduate of age 22 who is working in a Multi National Company (MNC) has a pay package of RM2,200 and covers her medical expenses via company group insurance. After deducting 11% for Employee Provident Fund (EPF), she's left with RM1960 (for simplicity sake, I've rounded up the figure from RM 1,958). Now Ms. X has to pay for her rental RM250/month and her conservative daily expenditure on food is roughly RM 20/day which totals up to RM 600/month. Throw in another RM 200 for miscellaneous expenses (monthly phone bill, electricity/water bills, groceries and occasional movies) and her Government Study loan repayment of RM 150, now she's left with RM 760. Having not exposed to the concepts of financial planning, she decides that she must and can afford a car with her new found wealth of RM 760. Without much thinking, Ms. X decided to buy her dream car, the Olive Green MyVi with full accessories and automatic transmission that costs RM 49,000. Knowing her parents will help her fork out RM 9,000 down payment for her new MyVi, she went ahead and secured a RM 40,000 car loan with 4.2% interest with repayment for nine years. The Perodua car salesman happily calculated for her that she will only need to pay a mere RM510/month for 9 years. Considering that she only drives a short distance to and from her office, she assumed that RM 250 is more than adequate to pay for her petrol expenses.

So far, everything seemed fine with the way she manages her money right?

Wrong!

I don't deny that there are certain expenses that can't be avoided such as the absolute need for a car, daily food expenses as well as room rental but Ms. X totally blew her planning by over committing herself. Instead of getting a car that suits her budget, she went for a RM 49,000 MyVi. She did do her math and factored in the monthly expenses of her car but she forgot about the car maintenance (car servicing, replacement of consumables such as brake pads, spark plug, engine oil, tyres, etc). Take note that purchasing the car is never an issue, but the cost of taking care of a car is. Plus, she totally neglected her retirement and the necessary insurance policies/trust/will which are crucial for wealth protection. (I will not go into that as that is a whole topic by itself) My advise would be for Ms. X to get a smaller and cheaper car which is low on fuel consumption, cheap spare parts and reliable built (that practically rules out Proton and any Korean made cars) such as a 660cc Kancil (RM 22,500) or 850cc Viva (RM 32,500) if it is absolutely necessary. After all, she only needs a car to get around town, why would she need such a large car? Besides, our little lassie here must cut down on some of her expenses may it be her weekly clubbing or her food expenses or her love for shopping. This is where the daily expenses account sheet from step 1 will come in handy to assist you to identify where you can cut down on. The reason is simple, if you don't start saving now, you will never be able to as your salary grows, so will your commitments. By the time you realized you need to save, it's probably too late and you will have to work way beyond your retirement years just to support your cost of living. (I will not dwell into this topic as it was adequately covered in my previous posting of the article "Save young or Save Like Crazy").

Step 3: Avoid temptations!

No, I'm not talking about temptation of the flesh and lust. I'm talking about the temptation to spend when you have some extra cash in hand. It's never easy to resist temptation so the best option is the avoid the situation where you will be tempted. This can be done by simply by having multiple accounts with different banks and label them accordingly. For instance, I have an account with Maybank that used for daily transactions such as payment for bills, payment of commission as well as a means for my beloved and much appreciated clients bank in their insurance premiums. Obviously, this Maybank account has an ATM card, large network of branches and online banking account that enables me to access the money easily. I designated this account to be "General Account". Knowing that I will be doomed to spend whatever savings I have in here, I went to OCBC to open a current, savings and fixed deposit account. I labeled these accounts as "Savings Account". Whatever extra I have in my Maybank account will be deposited in my "Savings Account" in OCBC. For this account, I too have an ATM card but I chose this bank because it has very limited branches nationwide and they charge a whopping RM 8 if I used other banks' ATMs for any transaction. Thanks to this arrangement, whenever I have the urge to spend the savings I have in my "Savings Account", I will be deterred by the hassle I have to go through or the ridiculous service charge they impose if I use my ATM card elsewhere. The final account which is my Fixed Deposit, is my "Untouchable Account". It will always be on a half yearly basis and my standing instructions would be for them to automatically renew the FD term once it reaches maturity. The purpose of this money will be for future use such as the purchase of a property/wedding/children's tertiary education. So, whatever extra I have from my "Savings Account" will be transferred into my "Untouchable Account" after six months. Please take note that this method is not "temptation-proof" per se but with a pinch of discipline, such an arrangement has helped me to minimize the urge the spend and ultimately, I was able to have some savings. (no matter how little it is. I have to start from small amounts right?)

This three steps have worked for me thus far after I have started working for a year and I'm proud to say that I have managed to stay afloat despite my fluctuating income. This is not the most ideal way but it's a start and I hope it will work for you too! Cheers!

Save Young or Save Like Crazy

2007-06-20T16:24:00.001+08:00

For the past three weekends, The Sunday Star has been publishing articles related to financial planning. This is due to the fact that 95% Malaysians do not have any financial planning. I can't really blame them because the world at large; media, society and yes, even the Government encourages us to spend! (This is mainly due to our nation's economy that is largely driven by Malaysian consumers' spending power) As a financial planner myself, I applaud the publishing of such articles as it will definitely create more awareness in our spend-first-and-save-late- society. However, reading the article is one thing, acknowledging it and taking concrete steps to address it is a another issue altogether. Nonetheless, I have scanned the article into JPEG format and uploaded it into my blog (The Star takes it off their website after 7 days unless you subscribe to their services). Do take note that due to the sheer size of the image (roughly 1.7MB), it might take a while to load. Feel free to save the image and read it at your own leisure or you can leave your email address and I'll send it to you.
P.S: This article was written by Financial Planning Association of Malaysia (FPAM) and published in the Sunday Star on 17th June 2007.

Wheee!!! New laptop!

2007-06-18T11:33:00.000+08:00

After months of procrastination and delaying, I have finally cleared the cob-webs and dust that have been accumulating on my precious blog. Now that I've gotten myself a new laptop, (my new beloved but Adel dearie, it will never-ever take your top spot in my heart. Alright, that sounded mushy! LoL) I've decided to return to the so-called "blogsphere". The first item on my agenda was to update my blog's template and settings. Second on my list was to recollect as much as I could what had happened in the past six months of 2007... so here's a brief description of the most memorable events from January up till June.

January
January? What the heck did I do in January? I certainly can't recall all the details but I remembered meeting this individual in KLCC area that had me seething the whole day. Never before in my life had I encountered such a snobbish and arrogant S.O.B. It still makes me boil (to a lesser degree) as I recollect the incident even though it was 5 months ago. The details will not be discussed here but through this experience, I made a point to never treat others the way this person treated me that day. The world has sufficient numbers of snobbish S.O.B's and I don't think I should personally add to that figure.

February
Ah... February. CHINESE NEW YEAR! Muahahahahahah... the time where I managed to recoup some of my savings at the expense of married individuals. Hehe... My "licence-to-collect" will come to an end in a couple of years so I better make the best of it in the next few years! On a more serious note, I attended my first Super Group Agent's Convention Centre in First World, Genting Highlands a few days prior to Chinese New Year. For the uninitiated, Super Group (SG) is the agency I am attached to. We have about 4000++ agents and our 29 branches throughout Peninsular Malaysia contribute to 30% of Great Eastern's total sales each year (Something which we are very proud of. LoL). This convention lasted three days and the first night was our annual dinner cum awards presentation night. To my surprise, about 2000++ agents and managers alike turned up and First World was literally flooded with SG members. Felt as though I was part of some big MNC event (LoL). During the annual dinner, some of my colleagues and I managed to get to the dance floor. As the annual dinner came to an end, the senior SG committee members came to the floor and to my utter amazement, the old farts were wilder than the younger ones. Man... they can really dance. Hahaha...

March
3rd of March 2007, it's the first anniversary of my mum's passing due to cancer. Man... time passes so fast and in a blink of an eye, it has been a year. Mum, your absence still grieves us but we're glad you're up there with Big Bro. You'll always be with us in our hearts. Love you Mum...

April
I had the opportunity to join my agency's roadshow in Tesco Puchong to promote one of our savings product. Two weeks of daily duty has really taken a toll on my morale. At first, it was fun because it was a huge challenge to get information from passersby (Now I know how it feels to be a credit card roadshow salesman) but after a few days of repetitive work, it became a drag. On a lighter side, there were instances where I just couldn't help but laugh out loud (LoL!). There was this lady who was walking pass and as usual, I moved towards her direction to promote our savings product. Before I could take my second step, she spotted me and took flight i.e she literally ran off. My colleagues and I were staring at her as she ran and we couldn't stop laughing (we were laughing real loud) at her silliness. Are we really that scary? Come on... we're human beings just like you and we don't bite!

May
My first vacation of the year! It's back to Sabah; the state which is 20 years behind Peninsular Malaysia in terms of development. This time, six of us flew to Sandakan and we had a great time stuffing ourselves with fresh and cheap (let me repeat that again), fresh and cheap seafood. We even had the opportunity to try out seafood "bak kut teh". Unlike traditional "bak kut teh" where the ingredients are dumped into one huge pot, the seafood "bak kut teh" here separates each ingredient into various pots. It was awesome as each dish has its distinctive flavour due to the particular seafood used. Another exclusive dish they have is the "yau-char-kwai" (no idea what's the English word for it) with kaya and margarine. Not to mention the coconut "tau-fu-fah" (again, I have no idea what's the English counterpart) dessert... the huge clams called "pak-sar" (loosely translated as white sand in English) that have flesh the size of two AAA batteries. Oh... I have also learned that prawns are considered fresh only when it is hard to remove the shell. If it's relatively easy to peel off the shell, it has been frozen for some time. After trying out the seafood in Sandakan, I can daringly say this to Klang-ites and Penang kia's... your seafood doesn't even come close to what Sandakan has to offer.

Oh yeah... on side note. My previous company, Kunoh Technocraft, officially closed down after a year of mismanagement and screw ups. I still remember the time when my former employer said to me that he will wait till the day I go bust in the insurance line and return to his company; LO and BEHOLD! His company went down under and my business is still growing! Talk about irony! LoL...

June
My laptop arrived this month! I've gotten the Dell XPS M1210 from a Lowyat forumer. The usual price with the minimum specifications without delivery is priced at RM3,699 but this individual sold the laptop to me (with full warranty and Vista Business edition OEM) with the specifications I wanted at RM 3,550. Since this laptop will be purely work related, I didn't care much about the processor and graphics. So I settled for a Centrino Duo Core T5500, 2GB of RAM, onboard graphics, DVD-RW drive and a small 12.1" widescreen monitor. Quite a good deal and this baby of mine weighs less than 2kg with the battery. Nice! Just nice for traveling. Now I'm thinking of skinning my laptop and sticking a protective film on the LCD monitor... but that would have to wait for the time being. Almost broke the bank with this laptop and my five-figure investment into land banking in May.

Well, I guess that summed up the most memorable or outstanding events that occurred in the past 6 months. I will be updating my blog fairly often in the future as blogging has always been a favourite past-time. To all Uncle Chan's crap readers out there, I am back for good. Cheers!

First entry in two months...

2006-12-16T01:46:00.000+08:00

It's been so long since I last posted an entry in here. Man, time sure flies! Thanks to Natalie, the awesome president of 5 Loaves 2 Fish (My former University's Catholic Student Society) who invited me to tonight's caroling session in USJ 11, I was inspired once more to blog. Meeting Nat, Mary, Joanne, Alvin, Jonathan, Michael, Regina, Christina, Rory, Elizabeth, Eugene,Bernard, Robinson and new member Eric was really great. I missed you guys and girls so much! Seeing all of you reminded me the fun times we had back when I was still an undergrad in Multimedia University. Ah... those were the days... :Þ

I'll keep this entry real short this time as it's already 2am and I have an early appointment tomorrow morning. Geez... Being part of the working force surely ruins the fun! Anyway, it's been a while since I sang as much as I did today during the caroling session. Nat, you handled the 'kids' (as in the whole 5L2F members whom were present) well... Good job in gathering everyone for practice and making tonight a fun-filled-successful-event. Of course, I wouldn't know the crap you had to go through but I really have to salute you for the leadership skills (and patience!) you have. Christina and Alvin, you two were awesome in controlling the 'kids' as well and making sure the whole caroling session went as planned (Alvin looked so darn cute with his imported-from-Sabah-LED-Christmas-cap). To the duo who were on the guitars, Michael-the-ever-cool-guy and Jonathan-who-is-equally-cool did a great job in blending in with the Hosanna BEC. Rory, Eugene and Robinson... you three didn't change much from the last time I met you. (Rory's still as hyper as ever, Eugene the blur and Robinson the fast-talking guy... please stay as you are. That's what makes you peeps unique!). To my dear Joanne, thanks for labeling me 'the-second-best-guy'. I know I can never be your numero-uno... (Ian already took that spot) but now I know that I am somewhere near the top spot *evil-grin*. As for my sweet Mary... you're a naughty one aren't cha! I knew you wanted to get a shot of the Chivas or Jack Daniels at the last house... too bad you were driving tonight so you had to settle for a small glass of Tiger Beer. No worries... we shall meet up soon enough for some "happy hour". Bernard!!!!! Oh my goodness...please control your alcohol intake! The fact that you kept comparing whose glass of Chivas was darker each time isn't a good sign... My first Indonesian friend, Regina... sorry for whacking your head... you were too photogenic till I just had to give it a slight-tap to check if it's for real. :Þ Last but not least, Elizabeth from UPM and Eric Wong, nice meeting you two tonight. I earnestly hope I can see you two again in the future and get to know you better.

That's about it I guess... Once again, thanks peeps for inviting me to the caroling session. I love you guys and I look forward to our next outing. Take care and God bless!

I need to break out of my shell...

2006-10-13T23:19:00.000+08:00

It was my first time attending a party which I knew no one other than my friend who brought me there. Well technically, it wasn't my first time per-se but this was a revelation to me. There were so many people there who barely knew each other and we introduced ourselves to each other... and yet, everyone was casually chatting like they have known each other for ages! The host, whom is in his late thirties is one happening uncle! This is a far cry from the usual people I meet with. No, I am not condemning the friends I know and love but it's just that in this party, I met people who are entirely different from those that I know. This shows how small the scope of my world is.

I am really grateful to my friend, Fabian, who brought me to this party and exposed the my limitations in my people-to-people skills. Besides, these people at the party are generally pretty well off and 'westernized'... thus this explains my awkwardness due to my 'geek-and-Chinese-English' background. Man, words can't explain the embarassment and awkwardness I had during at the party. Thank God for people like Manesh and Robert (the host) who made my life less "miserable". Man, I really need to break out of my shell...

3rd week into it...

2006-09-24T22:14:00.000+08:00

"Life is Great!"

That's the slogan of the insurance company I am currently working with. Great Eastern Life Assurance (M) Berhad. Honestly speaking, Life is indeed Great!! No doubt about it. Just three weeks into my job and I have already encountered all kinds of shit faced by a rookie agent. Friends who make a whole lot of excuses just to avoid you. Did I forget to mention these are my close friends? Forget about them, my university friends too tend to shy away from me and purposely fong-fei-kei (miss the appointment on purpose) at the very last minute without even letting me know. LOL. However, I am so glad these rejections came to me. From the bottom of my heart, I am very grateful to all of you. No doubt it hurts at first but whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger! Obviously, there are faults on my side as well. My eagerness in meeting people can scare people away but hell, it is through this field I have experience amazing things. Close friends or buddies can say all sort of things to discourage you whereas complete strangers are more open to you than those who have known you for three quarters of your life.

I have managed to close two sales within this week from people I barely known! One guy is from my former company whom I have known for about two months whereas the other is a friend of my dad's. Technically speaking, they have yet to pay the premium but they verbally promised to do so in late November and early October respectively. It is true when my fellow agents tell me that it's easier obtaining sales from cold canvassing then approaching those who are close to you. Another former colleague from my previous company even went to the extent of arranging an appointment with his housemate on my behalf! LOL. Thank God for this experience, I love it! To all my friends out there, I truly appreciate the help and lessons you have directly or indirectly taught me. Frankly speaking, I harbour no anger or bitterness towards my friends as you peeps have truly taught me something invaluable. Instead, I am eternally grateful to all of you! Life is Great! Amen to that!

A brand new day...

2006-09-01T18:32:00.000+08:00

Today is probably the biggest day of my short 23-years of life. I have set in motion what I planned to do all along; change of career to something I am very sure I want to do. At 1730, I submitted my letter of resignation to my boss and will embark on a new career path; Insurance. Prior to this, I have been uncertain of whether to pursuit a career in insurance full or part time for some time now. Last week while I was on the way back from Singapore, I had a long conversation with my boss which made me make up my mind. The most important part of the conversation was roughly as follows;

(talked about other stuff before reaching to this part...)
Unka: Mr.Koh, I am quite bored with compiling theory... I have been sitting in the office for almost three months...
Mr.Koh: If you think compiling theory is very boring and meaningless, there's nothing I can say... you'd better get another job.

Thanks to that statement, I was certain what I was doing in Kunoh Technocraft is not something I want to pursue as a career. At that point, I was seriously contemplating to quit my job and go ahead as a full time agent in the Insurance field. I asked myself,"What the hell am I waiting for? I know what I want to do but why am I hesitating?". The reason was pretty straightfoward, I lack the 0.1% to complete my 99.9% conviction in quiting and going full time. As a result, I gave it another thought of staying back in Kunoh while I figure out what made me lack that 0.1%. On the following Tuesday, a colleague of mine asked me to accompany him to meet a client and during the journey, he asked me a few questions...

(talked about other stuff before reaching to this part...)
Mr.Colleague: Nick... do you think I should stay in this company? I feel I have learned nothing and I will not be able to learn anything even if I stayed.
Unka: But you were in this company for barely three months! How do you expect to see results in such a short period?
Mr.Colleague: True...but I doubt I can learn what I want to learn even if I stayed. You know that I am not here for the money... it's for experience
Unka: Why don't you just give it for another three months? If you quit now, your resume won't look nice. Even if you decide to quit three months later, you only lost 3 months... who knows, you would probably learn a hell lot more in this three months.
Mr.Colleague: I guess... (and we went on to talk about other stuff)

That night, as usual, I attended my Insurance training classes in Taman Mayang and after the class, I usually meet up with Group Sales Manager (GSM) who had made it to the pinnacle of Insurance corporate ladder. This GSM, Cili (who can afford to drive a brand new 3 series even before he reached 28 and still can afford to send his sister to Australia to further her studies), had a brief chat with me...

(talked about other stuff before reaching to this part...)
Cili: Why don't you just try it out as a full time agent?
Unka: My dad won't permit it...he worries I can't make it...
Cili: I understand... but judging from what the conversation we had just now, I see that you have the right mindset and drive to be a successful agent. What have you got to lose?
Unka: It's not easy to convince my dad you know... I have been wanting to be a full time agent quite some time dy...
Cili: Why don't you just tell your dad to give you 6 months to 1 year to try it out? You are not going to rob anyone or do illegal stuff. All you ask is 1 year to be in this industry, if it doesn't work out, you have your degree to fall back on and return to be a regular salary earner, right?
Unka: True...
Cili: Furthermore... you're only 23... what's 1 year to you? Treat it as taking a Masters degree...if you can carve a career out of it, good for you. But if you can't...then you can assume you failed the degree and return to be a regular salary earner. Even if that happens, the exposure you have in this field would have further enhanced your skills and you only loose one year!
(and we went on to talk about other stuff)

I was like...WTF? That's so similar to what I told my colleague earlier that day! What have I got to lose other than time? Time is on my side! Either way, I am cocksure I want to be in a position where I can meet people from all walks of life and be in a position to determine how much salary I want based on my efforts alone... not just some dipshit job that requires me to sit in the office with a fixed meagre salary. Thanks to this conversation, I acquired my final 0.1% of conviction I needed to make the biggest decision of my life. The subsequent day, I told my dad and after a short deliberation, he gave his consent. Thank God!

Now that I have everything set in order, I am going all out to carve a career out of this field and I am very cocksure I will make it big in this industry. Am I being overconfident? Probably. But if I am uncertain then half the battle has already been lost. Am I being naive? I think so! Haha... I know things are not going to be easy. I had never before assumed that earning cash was easy...and I am willing to put every effort and strength I have to ensure I achieve my short and long term goals through this field. It's all down to the work-or-not-income mode and that is the pressure I relish! Those who probably read my blog will now have doubts whenever I try to get in touch with them... Haha, I guess that's something that I have to face.

Ah...I almost forgot to mention that my boss called me up when he saw my email of resignation at around 1820 (He wasn't in...and I attached a softcopy of my letter in the email). The conversation was as follows;

Mr.Koh: Hey Nick... are you messing with me?
Unka: What do you mean I am messing with you?
Mr.Koh: Resigning when I am about to fly off to China and you know I won't be able to see you
Unka: Mr.Koh, I am not trying to mess with you... I wanted to inform you earlier on but you were not in for the whole week.
Mr.Koh: So... There's no turning back?
Unka: Yep
Mr.Koh: You found another job?
Unka: Nope... I am going into the insurance field
Mr.Koh: What?
Unka: I am going into the insurance field
Mr.Koh: Which company?
Unka: Great Eastern
Mr.Koh: I will forever boycott this company...
Unka: ... ...
Mr.Koh: Why? Do you know I see you as the candidate with the most potential? Why did you quit? Is it because I gave you the wrong impression when I assigned the wafer loader to you?
Unka: Mr.Koh... do you remember what you said to me on the way back from Singapore?
Mr.Koh: What? What did I say?
Unka: You said if I was bored with the compilation work and tasks assigned to me...I'd better change my job?
Mr.Koh: You realize I was helping you load your "bullets" before I let you into the field right?
Unka: Yes, it's the same for all industries. I understand... but through that conversation I knew this is not what I want. I want to be able to meet people from all walks of life...Kunoh provides a totally different playing level which I know I don't want.
Mr.Koh: You can go do sales if you wanted to! What is in insurance that made you resign?
Unka: Insurance provides me the opportunity that Kunoh can't. It's like having a blank cheque and whatever figure that is written on it depends on how much effort I put in. You were the one who told me to have a goal. Now that I know what my goals are... I am going all out to do what I think is best to achieve them. I know that hesitation will lead me to no where.
Mr.Koh: You are very naive you know? Do you know how many people failed in this field?
Unka: Yes, but I am very confident I can make it.
Mr.Koh: You surrender too easily... how do you think you can do it in insurance?
Unka: That is my short-coming that I will overcome but it doesn't deter me to try it out.
Mr.Koh: Do you want me to tell you the story of Sean (Acculex, my boss' other company's manager in Malacca) on how he failed and quit the insurance industry? You know he was from Prudential right?
Unka: Yes, I am pretty well aware that there are people who fail but I have also seen a lot of people who made it big. Out of 100% of people who goes into this field, only 20% who are successful and out of that, 1-2% who are very successful. I am cocksure I will be part of the 20% category.
Mr.Koh: ... ... Ok... but I still want to meet up with you when I return from China.
Unka: Sure Mr.Koh... even though I am no longer your staff, we can still be friends, right?
Mr.Koh: Yes yes...
Unka: So I will set a date with you to meet up once you're back?
Mr.Koh: Ok ok...I'll see you then...
Unka: Bye...

That was how the conversation went. Haha... as usual, he tried to dampen my spirit like practically everyone I talked to. This doesn't deter me as all these pessimism gives me the drive to prove to them wrong!

I really need to recharge my batteries...

2006-08-25T20:53:00.000+08:00

It has been a bloody tiring week for me; a far cry from the past weeks when all I had to do was to sit in the office and do practically nothing. Just when I have acclimatized myself to the boredom that awaits me everyday, my boss instructed me to leave for Malacca on Wednesday so that I can proceed to Singapore with him that evening. The purpose of this trip? To familiarize myself to my so-called baby; The Wafer Loader. Damn, this means that the real pressure starts once I am back from this little excursion. My boss would want me to push for sales. For a product that costs a brand-new Honda Civic 2.0l excluding the profit margin, I have a real tough mountain to climb.

On Wednesday morning, I drove down to Malacca and manage to met up with my Foundation Year's lecture group leader, Mr.Jonathan Fun. This basket is doing relatively well as he is the sole distributor of a particular cosmetic brand to Guardian Pharmacy. He has now branched into advertising and secured a contract with Malacca's Toyota. After having a brief yamcha session with him, I departed for my boss' semi-detached house in Taman Pertam Jaya where wasted the early afternoon away. At approximately 1630, my boss, his family and I departed for Singapore. Suprisingly, he wasn't himself that day as he drove at a relatively slow speed; an average of 150kmph (Probably due to the fact that his eldest daughter and son are in the car). Once we arrived at Johor's Custom Checkpoint, I took over the wheels since Malaysian Citizens that have Singaporean PR are not permitted to drive in a Malaysian registered vehicle. Driving a T6 Volvo S80 that has a 2.8l engine was definitely unnerving! It has awesome acceleration power and the best (or worst) part is, it can hit 100kmph without breaking a sweat and knowing how strict Singapore's laws are, it was a chore just to maintain the car at a constant 80/90kmph. Thank God for Volvo's cruise control... maintaining the speed at 80/90kmph was no longer an issue but... I can't really test the engine either. Damn. Arriving at my boss' apartment block in Jurong West at approximately 7pm, we had dinner with his staff in Singapore as well as his sister before heading to his apartment. Once I took my bath, I watched a bit of Singaporean TV before hitting the sack at midnight.

The next morning, my boss' sister, Christie, took me to Acculex's office where I met Keng Swee and Hock Chye who were about to depart to deliver a microscope system to Xylinx. They were instructed to bring me along and I got to visit Singapore's industrial area. Man, their industrial parks make Cyberjaya look like crap. The landscaping was done so that you won't feel as though you are in some hostile factory area but in a garden which has futuristic factories dotted around it. Once the system was delivered, I was brought to God-knows-where to have lunch before heading back to office to study my product. Roughly at 1500, I arrived at Acculex's office and started my study under the tutelage of Keng Swee. Three miserable hours later, my boss' wife, Mrs.Boss and Christie wanted to go shopping at Takashimaya. Sensing an opportunity to escape from the crummy office, I invited myself along. Though seeing women shopping was equally as boring, it is better than facing a boring machine the whole evening. Luckily, I wasn't the only male there, Acculex's support engineer, Mr.Allan was also present and his hungry stomach dictated him to have KFC for dinner. Seeing that I am a guest in Singapore, he also treated me to a bloody-good-to-eat-due-to-the-fact-that-we-were-farking-hungry meal. We tried very hard to savour every bite of the chicken slowly but as slow as we were, the women took even longer to shop. At the end, we had to wait for them to finish shopping as the mall closed at 9pm and we headed back to office before departing for another God-knows-where hawker centre for dinner at 2200.

By the time we got back to the apartment, it was almost 2330 and everyone took their own sweet time to bath as the women-folk sat down to discuss their shopping excursion. At 1am, my boss finally decided to leave Singapore and we had a wonderful-driving-at-night-at-200/220kmph drive back to Malacca. During the two hour journey, my boss still managed to discuss (and indirectly screwed me) work related issues with me. The exhausting drive seems to have no effect on my boss when we arrived at his house at 0305 as he asked me to join him to watch a football match. I politely declined and retreated to the guest room and fell into a deep slumber the moment my head hit the pillow. The next morning, I was rudely awoken by my colleague's call at 0920; he was eager to know if boss was returning to KL. Since I was already awake, I took my shower, had breakfast before departing to meet my Uni foundation year classmate, Mr.Tan Leong Kiong. It was great to meet him after so many years and we talked over old times over brunch. At approximately 1100, I finally took leave from the Historical City and arriving in my office at 1300 (no thanks to the stupid half an hour traffic hold up just before the exit to Seremban). It was as though my boss have not tortured me enough by asking me to stay in the office till the working day is over, he emailed every staff to inform us of an-unavoidable-meeting at 1730. Damn. Thanks to the heavy downpour in Seremban (he was in Senawang to conduct a business deal), his return to Kunoh's office was delayed and he had the courtesy to call to instruct us to have our dinner. Reluctantly, we did as we were told but lady luck was smiling on us as he called my colleague to inform that he was not able to make it due to the terrible traffic jam along North-South Highway and we had a telephone conference session to report our weekly tasks done.

Unfortunately, the smile from lady luck didn't last long as the heavy downpour continued and I was not able to get back to my car. Feeling farking tired and pissed, I had to stay back in the office to wait till the raining subsides. That is why I purposedly blogged such a farking boring entry to kill time. It's already 2046 and it's still raining cats and dogs out there and the traffic condition is horrendous. Man, this week is definitely not my week. Like the title of this entry, I really need to recharge my batteries...

Paycheck...

2006-07-30T10:01:00.000+08:00

I received my second paycheck on Friday and when I saw the amount I have, it dawned on me that I need to earn more. The mere RM2000++ after EPF/SOCSO/What-not deduction is barely enough for me to do anything. I am not saying that I want to spend lavishly on gadgets or dine at fine restaurants everyday. I have my car loan and maintenence, Government study loan, insurances and monthly money allowance to my father to pay for. All of this sums up to two thirds of my RM2000++ income. Coupled with the fact that I do not foresee my boss letting me going into the field to do sales in the near future is not helping. No Sales = No Commission = Meagre income. All my boss said to me was ,"You're in a totally different ball game from the rest. You need to have a bigger vision and understand more things... " before he threw three copies of thesis papers on various upcoming microscopy theories for me to read on. What the hell he meant by a "different ball game from the rest"? I have no farking idea.

I hate the fact that I have to limit my spending especially on food just because I am limited by my salary. As I see it, in order for me to achieve financial freedom, I have to seek alternative sources of income on top of my day job. Is it Multi-Level-F*cketing? (A pun my friends and I came up with for Multi-Level-Marketing) No. I am moving into the insurance field. Yeap, I am seriously considering to become an insurance agent for Great Eastern. I am in the midst of finalizing few details (agent tests, learning the products, etc) before I become a certified legal agent. Thus, on top of my eight-to-eight-Monday-to-Friday-day-job, I will work as a part-time agent on weekends. I am hereby announcing to all my blog readers, I will most likely enter the insurance/investment industry and I hope you peeps will provide me with support in the future!

Cruel cruel world...

2006-07-26T20:19:00.000+08:00

I have been thrown out into the cruel working society for about two months and have been exposed to the perils of day-to-day labour. Unlucky for me, who took almost two weeks off for my Sabah trip, I was assigned the most expensive product of my company; The Wafer Loader (WL). Costing approximately a Honda Civic, it carries the most commission but the catch is, only a small number of users. What are WLs? To simply put it, wafer loader are for huge semiconductor companies who fabricate large silicon wafers and these wafers, being so hard to fabricate and has nearly zero tolerance to defects, cannot not be touched by human beings. So, such big-wig companies will buy few wafer loaders just to load these wafers into cassettes (wafer holder thingie...something like your CD rack) for transportation or inspection. Which big companies am I talking about? To name a few; Intel, AMD, Avago, Freescale etc. Only such a limited market coupled with giant competitors such as Nikon and Olympus, this is definitely one difficult son-of-a-b*tch to sell. Nonetheless, I resign myself to my luck and try my best to sell one or two units within the first year.

That is just the minor sucky part. The major one is this; All my colleagues have been given the green light to go into the field to obtain sales whereas Yours Truly is stuck in the freaking office studying and theory compilation. Thank God I have completed the compilation of microscopy theory and I just sit around in the office rotting my brains away. Well, my boss did assign me a task to seek out potential distributors/agents internationally. All I did was to send out emails which every one treats as spam and patiently wait for replies. Sent out 30 two days ago just to test my email persuasion skills and the reply so far? Three non-existent emails and one was treated as spam and filtered by the company's webmaster. That's about the most interesting thing I have done for the passed three days.

What am I going to do next? I seriously have no idea. Being in the office and looking at the most senior (in terms of age) polish my boss' and his wife's shoes is quite sickening but since he has been doing it so often, I have developed immunity towards such acts. As for the rest of my colleagues, all I can do on a daily basis is to accompany them to meet clients just to kill time. Sigh...

MAN!!! SOMEONE PLEASE SHOOT ME!!!!!!

Geez...

2006-07-01T22:11:00.000+08:00

Geez...
As much as I would love to create an entry about my trip to Sabah on the 15 June... I just can't find the time! Working really saps the living daylights out of you. This is the first week when I have worked the full week. On the first day of work after my holidays, I had a meeting with my colleagues, boss and my company's Japanese counterpart till 830pm. The subsequent day, I was stuck in a ridiculously long traffic jam along the Damansara-Puchong Highway for almost two hours. I left my office at 6pm and by the time I reach home, it was nearly 830pm. Please bear in mind that my office is located in Kelana Centre Point which is just 15 minutes drive from my house. Things were slightly better on Wednesday where I manage to get home by 730pm. Thursday on the other hand... was another "late-evening" in the office. My boss was going back to Malacca on Friday and we had a meeting from 4pm up till 9pm. The purpose of the meeting? To teach us what is a sales-cycle. Well, at least I was treated to dinner at Taman Megah's Fatty Crab Restaurant. What about Friday? Hmmm...Boss wasn't around... neither was his personal assistant (also known as Mrs.Boss)... so I had a fun-filled day of sitting in front of the computer conducting self-study on microscopy which I am suppose to report on to my boss on Monday. Heck... I even have to continue my work at home on a weekend! Geez!!!!
Even as I create this entry, I have to rush through my work so that I can submit my findings on Monday. My boss didn't explicitly want me to submit my findings on Monday but when the stakes are this high, I would do anything to accomplish any task he assigns me to. Stakes? What stakes am I talking about? The company I am working for is a small firm which just began operations two months ago. My boss hired five individuals and he explicitly said that he will be selecting his so-called "right-hand" and "left-hand" man to oversee the company's operations when he expands this company to US and Europe. Obviously, every one of us will be vying for that position.
Things are about to heat up and I am positive I am up for it! Stress and overtime; BRING IT ON!!!

Mindless ramblings...

2006-06-07T00:45:00.000+08:00

Sometimes, no matter how hard you try to suppress it ... it will slowly resurface. No matter how much you try to bury it with all the superficial earthly created materials and items... it will find its way back and knock on your front door. One might say,"time will heal" but that is just bullshit. It was engraved so deeply into you, there's nothing time can do to remove it. Even if time did heal, the scars it created still remains. You might try to shout or cry your heart out to ease your mind but it will not go away that easily. You could also try to shove it into a little box, lock it up and throw away the key; hoping one day that it will cease to haunt you. Somehow, someway... it will find a way to find that key and open that little box. When that time comes, it will make your heart ache even more. Bottling and keeping mum about it only aggravates the pain you feel when it resurfaces. What about sharing it with someone you trust? No... no one could ever understand the lost and agony it brought. No one will know what you went through... they might lend a sympathetic ear or give you hugs to encourage you... that's just how far they will go.

Why? Why did God do such things to create it? Did you create it? No... you can't be the one who created it. No... not you. God was the One who created it. You tried confronting it but always end up hurting yourself. Probably you should resign to fate... it is not something can remove or hide... it will always be a part of you; part of your life. Part of the burden you have to carry as you journey through the meaningless existence you have here. What should you do to minimize the sufferings associated with it? Pray for God's assistance? He created it in the first place. He was the one that handed such a cruel fate to you. Yes, one might say that mere mortals like you will never comprehend His will. You know you understand that but you can never accept it. It is a reminder for what God is capable of regardless of how pious or faithful one can be. It is also a reminder that life is a cruel and meaningless game for He can always add a wicked twist to your fate.

You seek a exit for all the agony; trying in vain to escape the pain. No matter what you do, it will always be a part of your body and soul. Till the day you return to dust, it will remain with you...

My old rig found a new life...

2006-06-05T17:53:00.000+08:00

Ah... my old computer served me well throughout my initial years of University life. Though it was not the first computer that I fiddled with, this was computer that I had upgraded intensively. Save for the soundcard, processor, speakers and monitor, I have placed a great amount of money to replace everything else. It served me well for almost four years before I purchased my current computer system which also cost me a truckload of money one and half years ago. (That's where all my Government study loan goes to). My old rig was destined to be dismantled and sold off in parts. I have already sold off my old NEC 17" Flat screen CRT monitor and Altec Lansing Powercube ACS45.1 as I slowly searched for buyers for the CPU. Alas... fate extended a life to this computer when my dad decided to buy a Sony Bravia KLV-V40A10 40" LCD TV.

Hooking up the old rig to the new LCD TV was as easy as hooking up my 19" LCD Monitor to my current rig. It was just a matter of plug and play. Thank God my good o' Geforce 4 Ti4200 graphic card was able to display 1366 x 768 resolution effortlessly. Though this old baby is powered by a 1.33Ghz Athlon CPU, memory capacity of 512MB SDRAM and a meagre 20GB 7200RPM harddisk drive (the 160GB was ripped out and placed into my current rig), it is still capable to play whatever anime or TV serials I downloaded without breaking a sweat. I transferred the whole first season of Lost and a few anime's into my 80GB external harddisk and played the AVI files on the LCD using my old rig. Lost was ripped off from the HDTV in the U.S. of America and it was awesomely clear on the Sony Bravia. To my suprise, even conventional DVDs and our pay-TV Astro do not have such high resolution (Thanks to the lack of HDTV infrastructure in Malaysia, my dad purchased another RM1600 "scaler" device to boost the resolution of conventional DVDs and Astro to a respectable 1080i resolution. Else, the displayed output will be so crappy. Imagine playing a 320X240 resolution on a 1280X1024 resolution). Next, I tried a series of anime such as Hajime no Ippo and Beyond the Clouds. The former is just a normal rip that is easily available from any fansub sites and the latter is a super high resolution DVD-rip. Hajime no Ippo series has 640X480 resolution and due to the 4:3 ratio, the LCD TV couldn't project the output onto the whole screen. I have always used PowerDVD as my computer media player and I removed the option of keeping the aspect ratio. The projected video was longish and it took me a while to get use to. Hell, it still beats the crap out of watching Hajime no Ippo on my 19" LCD monitor! Again, the projected output was pretty good and has better image quality compared to Astro or non-high-definition-DVD (aka the DVD you find in Malaysia. Pirated/Original).

Pardon the poor picture quality, my N6630's 1.3MP camera doesn't produce good quality images. See my old rig on the left? Ah...it's going to be a permanent feature from now on.

Next, I watched Beyond the Clouds which I mentioned earlier, is a very-high-resolution AVI file. When I played the movie, I was totally blown away. Not only was it a 16:9 ratio movie, the fine details on the LCD TV was totally mind boggling. Watching the animation with such high details was like getting high and having an orgasm at the same time!!(Pardon the selection of words). For normal DVDs, even when boosted in resolution by the scaler, it still has huge pixel boxes all around the screen. Those who have Astro, whenever you watch scenes that has gradient colour changes eg. under the sea, you are also able to spot these large pixel boxes. To my utter amazement, there was none when I played Beyond the Clouds. Too bad I do not have a sufficiently good sound card that can be interfaced unto my dad's TEAC amplifier else I would be able to enjoy a superbly high quality video display as well as an awesome 5.1 Surround system (Erm...this is subject to the type of file used!).

Anyway, before anyone starts commenting that I am rich or what not, please bear in mind that it was my father who spent RM13000 on that TV. It wasn't me. I am just blogging about it because now I can enjoy my anime and TV serials on a much larger screen. It sure makes a tech-geek like me to squeal like a guy who just lost his virginity to a very experience whore (Erm...I don't agree to paying for sex or premarital sex though, it's just an analogy). I first thought it was unnecessary for my dad to get this TV but he bought it either way. Now I am going to be the one who utilizes it the most! Too bad I no longer have my 15m network cable else I would be able to browse the internet on a 40" LCD TV!!!! Muaaaaaaaaaahahahahaha! Must get cable...must get cable... *in a daze*

Students gone wild...

2006-05-16T16:46:00.000+08:00

After finishing the first final examination paper, six Final Year Engineering students decided to head out and have a bit of fun before their second paper on the 25th of May. The destination chosen was Sunway Pyramid and these six students had only one objective in mind, to have FUN!!!! This excursion was spearheaded by Yours Truly (whom incidently was the one driving) and consisted of another three horny males and two hapless individuals from the opposite sex. The male species consisted of Ah Ham a.k.a Mr.Vain-Camera-Freak, Linkon and Albird whereas the females consisted of the less-than-5ft Laney and CF president, Ms. Charis.

Immediately after the exam paper, we returned to our respective quarters to freshen up and I rallied the troops at 1700. Ah Ham, being the "smallest" of the lot, was given the honour to grace the front passenger seat whereas the rest had to resist molesting each other as they sat behind (with a lot of body contact!). It was quite an uneventful journey to our destination as the troops were famished. The moment we arrived at the mall, Ah Ham immediately started his usual antics (randomly snapping pictures, running and hopping here and there). Thus, to lessen the embarassment he would inflict on the group, Albird, Charis and Yours Truly sacrificed ourselves to contain Ah Ham. Linkon and Laney was spared as they headed to a nearby hair saloon for Linkon's image transformation.

After unsuccessfully rummaging through Giant supermarket for grub, the unlucky trio, along with Ah Ham, proceeded to McDonalds to purchase ice-cream to appease our growling stomachs. Charis was kind enough to sponsor Arnotte's Tim Tams as the four hungry souls ravaged the ice-cream cone.

Tim Tams, courtesy of Charis

Albird was halfway through his ice-cream

Once our stomachs were temporarily appeased, Linkon's image-makeover was done and the lucky duo met up with us. Linkon was still in shock when he returned. We concluded that the image transformation gave him such a huge shock that he needed time to recover.

Linkon: Shocked and erm... still in shock

As Linkon was reeling from the self-imposed shock treatment, we headed to ice-skating rink but unfortunately, we were told that it would be closed at 2000. Even if we entered, we had less than 40 minutes to laugh at each other stumbling and falling on our arses in the rink. Undeterred, we rallied ourselves and headed to the cinema to purchase tickets for the Da Vinci Code movie which will be screened this coming Thursday. Lady Luck was definitely not smiling upon us because we weren't able to purchase the tickets. However, our unlucky streak did not affect our morale and we headed to the bowling alley in order to fulfill our mission objective; to have fun!

Over the reception counter, we registered for two games in two lanes and each trooper was given standard issued bowling foot wear. After donning the shoes, we collected the bowling balls which we were comfortable with and started bowling! On the left lane, Ah Ham, Laney and Yours Truly displayed our extraordinary bowling capabilities and Albird, Linkon and Charis did the same on the right lane. Ah Ham, armed with his Casio Exslim S600 camera, was busy taking pictures instead of bowling!!! Probably out of her spirit of kiasu-ism, Laney took out her Canon Ixus Zoom 11 and tried to out do Ah Ham. Such competitive spirit amongst the troops was admirable but I wish they channeled that enthusiasm into the bowling game instead!

Charis and Yours Truly relaxing while the two camera freaks snapped photos

You know they have gone too far when Ah Ham took picture of Albird and Laney taking a photo of themselves.

Though he was obsessed with snapping photos, Ah Ham still managed to reveal his infamous 'V' post

Undeterred by Ah Ham and Laney's antics, the rest pressed on. Albird, not knowing what he was doing, had a hard time aiming straight. He successfully bowled his way to longkang-bowling-superstardom in his first few attempts. Sensing his comrade was having trouble, Linkon stood up and gave Albird a few pointers on bowling. Yours Truly did not disappoint and erm... dominated the first game. Charis, on the other hand, was in top form in the subsequent game and bowled superbly (She slipped into a brief moment of shock as she never expected herself to be that good).

Linkon helping out his comrade, Albird

Charis, shocked at her own bowling skills

Yours Truly's score of 139 in the first game

Charis' final score of 112 in the second game

We successfully bowled our dominant arms to Pain-Kingdom and our stomachs growled out in unison for food. The bowling session has effectively negated our earlier appeasement efforts with Tim Tams and ice-cream. Our hunger dictated us to patronize the place where all chickens fear and despise, Hartz Chicken Buffet Restaurant. Ah Ham and Laney tried to dissuade the angry stomachs to steer clear from this chicken butcher centre but to no avail. Once there, we obediently handed our money to the evil looking Chicken-Butcher-Cashier and Ah Ham did a last ditch attempt to dissuade us from patronizing this blood soaked restaurant. His actions did cause some confusion but our growing hunger willed us to enter. The moment we saw food, our animal instincts kicked in and it wasn't long before we gathered enough grub and began feasting. It should be noted that Albird, Linkon and Charis did lose a bit of their sanity due to hunger but fortunately, their sanity returned when they had their stomachs filled.

Confusion in front of the restaurant

Our food gathering instincts served us well

Hunger can make you lose your sanity

The feast continued until the evil chicken butchers told us that they were closing. Their evil aura dissuaded us from disobeying them and we left. Lady Luck continued to shun us as we only discovered on our way out that Laney was eligible to patronize the restaurant as a child since she was shorter than 5 feet.

Laney was considered a child by the restaurant's standards

As the night was still young, we decided to head to the Administrative Capital of this land, the electricity-wasting Putrajaya. On the way to this wasteful land, the occupants of the cute-and-adorable-lime-green-MyVi had a wonderful time bashing a good friend of ours. There were times when a few of us tried to change the topic but Ah Ham always brought us back to the bash-a-particular-friend session (It was quite obvious that Ah Ham was venting all his pent up frustrations during this session). After enduring approximately 40 minutes of bash-a-particular-friend session, we finally arrived at the wasteful-administrative capital. Linkon took us for a whirlwind tour of the new section of the capital. We visited the lake by the Putrajaya Mosque, the Palace of Justice, the building just across the Palace of Justice (no idea what's the name) as well as the Penang-bridge-wannabe-bridge. It was a hot and windless night but it did not deter Ah Ham from doing what he does best, hopping, running and crazily snapping photos. Somehow, his crazy-aura spilled over to the rest and all hell broke loose. Charis, Linkon and Albird began to think that they were Power Rangers. Kiasu-ism took over Laney as she ran off to randomly take photos. Thankfully, I retained my sanity and managed to control the crowd.

Power Rangers Wannabes

As you can clearly see, every one became Power Rangers except for Yours Truly

Power Ranger Wannabe Linkon even tried to lift the dome off the Palace of Justice

Under some mysterious circumstances, each Power Ranger Wannabe slowly came to their senses and reverted back to their true-selves once we arrived at the Penang-bridge-wannabe-bridge. We took a brief moment to rest on this bridge while admiring the "generosity" of our Government which is spending millions of tax-payers' money per night just to keep Putrajaya lit. At midnight, we were pretty exhausted and headed back to so-called "Intelligent-City". Having spent the entire evening just having fun did take a toll on our energy levels and we all dropped like flies the moment we reached our respective quarters. Now, we are in the midst of preparation for our next excursion to MidValley for the Da Vinci Code movie. There are talks to watch X-Men III after our last final examination paper next Thursday but these are just speculations. Till the next excursion, Yours Truly will sign off for now.

P.S: To Charis, Happy 23rd Birthday!!!! :Þ

Another weird dream...

2006-05-07T15:49:00.000+08:00

This morning, I had another of my weird "spiritual" dream. The reason it's weird is because most of these dreams involve some form of Catholic exorcism (probably I have watched too many horror movies! :Þ). Those who knew me from my earlier university years would have heard me narrating these dreams. Well, here goes.

The dream was quite sketchy and I can't really remember the finer details but I can recall that I was not part of the dream per se. I was merely an floating invisible observer throughout the incident. It all began with two families travelling together and they came to a stop at this motel/apartment in a small town. Just as these families were preparing to check into the motel/apartment, another family of three arrived and coincidentally, they were acquantainces of the two families. Let's call this family, The A-family. Mysteriously, the two families who arrived earlier has decreased to one and I shall be referring to them as the B-family. The A-family, which consist the father, mother and son was very agitated when they arrived due to unknown reasons.

As they checked into their respective apartments, I followed them into the apartment (like a ghost tailing them) and immediately I sensed that there were other unearthly occupants. These bodiless occupants consist of a family of four with a husband, wife, an elder son and younger daughter. I don't know why they were in the apartment or what was the cause of their deaths but one thing is for sure, I can sense that they were hostile towards A-family. These spirits started to harass A-family by moving items and pushing them to ground. Like I mentioned earlier, the A-family was already on the edge when they first arrived and they immediately seeked the help of a Catholic priest to perform exorcism. (Don't ask me why they didn't shift out as I was just an invisible observer)

The priest promptly arrived at the apartment and I can immediately sense this priest was not a man of strong faith. I could feel his fear of the spirits but due to his position as a priest, he was bound to perform exorcism. He reluctantly took up the Holy Water and sprinkled it around the apartment as he recited the Lord's Prayer. The unearthly residents were angered by his actions and due to his lack of faith, the spirits attacked and possessed this poor man. What happened after that was unclear as this was the only part I can remember. The weird thing about this dream is that I can clearly feel the fear of the A-family and the priest as well as the anger and hostile intentions of the spirits. The most vivid account was when the priest was performing exorcism and the horror he felt when he knew he was possessed.

Just like all my previous weird dreams such as the dream where my dead aunt whom I have never seen before came to me for help or the dream where I had to seek divine help to exorcise a possessed man (just to name a few), I have no idea what the dream meant. It was entertaining though and gave me materials to blog. :Þ Hopefully, there are more of such dreams so that I can blog about it. I find it harder to blog these days because finding materials to blog is becoming harder by the week!

Geez...

2006-04-29T16:01:00.000+08:00

It's taking forever for me to find materials to blog. Back in University certainly takes away the privilege of bitching about your boss. LOL. The last entry was on 18th April! So many things have happened since then!

I finally got my own car on the 17th April. (Ok-ok...It' was a day before my last entry. Didn't put this in my previous rant!) It's the most affordable car with all the necessary modern safety features. A cute-and-butt-less car (much like the owner) that comes with Anti-Braking-System (ABS) and two Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) airbags for the driver and front passenger. Painted bright lime-green, this baby of mine comes with immobilizer and powered by a 1.3 litre DVVT engine. You guessed it, it's the super-in-demand car that has an eight month waiting list, the Perodua MyVi. Thanks to the stupid demand and my desperate need for a car, I had to fork out another RM3000 on top of the RM49,000 to obtain a fast car. Thus, instead of waiting 6-8 months, I got my car in two weeks. It was worth it. I have been driving this car for two weeks and the petrol consumption is at 13.5cents/kilometre, it has been decently sound proofed and doesn't rattle like a Proton. So far, the only complain I have about this car is its stupid floor mat. Perodua probably tried to cut cost to the extend of sacrificing decent sized floor mats that is able to cover the car floor! The rear floor mats are so small that all the dirt and pebbles will just roll onto the carpet beneath. Geez...

The next major event that occurred since my last entry; The submission of my Final Year Project (FYP) report and presentation. Thanks to my supervisor, Mr. Logeswaran, who dictates how my report flow should go and how my presentation slides should be, I completed my report ahead of the deadline and my FYP presentation went smoothly. Well, I did get bombarded by my "all-time-favourite" moderator, Dr. Ian, but my supervisor helped me deflect some of those bombardments. Phew... Now that the ordeal of FYP is behind me, all I need to to is to complete my last assignment which is due next Tuesday (2nd May) and sit for my finals before graduating! Woohoo! I seriously can't wait to get out of MMU!!!!!

Hmmm... that's all I can remember at the moment. Well, I hope I find more things to blog in the coming days. I can't be letting my blog lay idle for days! Hehe... Oh God. Please help me find more things to rant about in the coming days. Amen. LOL. :Þ

Ah...Malaysians...

2006-04-18T19:58:00.000+08:00

I was in my beloved's apartment using her roomie's computer to log into my Yahoo! Messenger account when I received forwarded messages from a few chinese friends. They forwarded a notice posted on my "beloved" Multimedia University's (MMU) online bulletin board. Here's a screenshot of the notice.

What about the link? MMU was quick to remove this "offensive" notice from our online bulletin but thanks to Jeff Ooi's blog, I managed to obtain this screenshot. Of course, my chinese compatriots were quite agitated when they read this notice. Well, looking at it, this notice is indeed very racist. They favour Indians and Malays over Chinese. Hmmm... What is this? Aren't we all Malaysians? Bangsa Malaysia? Why the heck did they put up such notice? WTF?

Before we actually roll up our sleeves and start bashing the hapless STAD clerk or the CITS for putting up this notice, we should ask ourselves; What's new? We live in Malaysia for crying out loud! Racism is the norm! Ask yourself, when was the last time you had a nasi lemak with another race? Look around you! In campus or anywhere in Malaysia, each race tends to stick to their own kind. Chinese and Indians perceive Malays as lazy-good-for-nothings whereas the Malays think Chinese are evil and heartless money making machines and Indians as good for nothing drunkards. Chinese companies tend to hire their own kin. Same goes to Malay and Indian companies. Back to my original question; Why are you so infuriated by this notice? Wake up folks, this is Malaysia we are talking about. So, shut your hole and stop forwarding stupid remarks lambasting this notice.

Back in business...

2006-04-09T11:39:00.000+08:00

A month has passed since I last updated my blog. A lot of things have happened since the passing of my mum on the 3rd of March. I have been labouring over my Final Year Project (FYP) for the whole time and now that my supervisor have approved my final draft of the report, I can take a breather now. Working non-stop from morning to night for the past two weeks to finish my report was a torture. Editing and proof-reading it over and over again. Urgh... I am so glad this phase is over! All I need to do now is to ready my presentation slides and do my thing on the 26th April! Thank God I was assigned to the second earliest slot on the first day of FYP part two presentation!! Hopefully, they won't make alterations to the schedule!

Ah... I think I can cut myself some slack for these few days. Been missing so many classes till my VR tutor noticed that I was missing. She issued a verbal warning to my spy, who has been signing my attendance, to tell me that I will be in deep shit if I don't start attending tutorials. Hell... To those who have known me since Alpha (First Year of Degree) would know that I don't attend classes at all. Just when I am reaching the end of my academic career in MMU, this aspiring new tutor caught me. Sigh...

Well, at least my other subject's tutor and lecturer hasn't noticed my disappearance. (Erm...I have only attended two miserable lectures and one tutorial the entire trimester...) Hehehe... Another seven weeks before MMU Prison releases me to the world! I can't wait to GRADUATE!!! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

P.S: Uncle Chan's crap is officially back in blogging business after one month of absence due to my stupid FYP. To all my blog's readers who have been requesting me to start blogging once more, this entry is dedicated to you!

It's over...

2006-03-07T17:06:00.000+08:00

First of all, I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude and thanks to all my friends who came and supported me after my mum's passing. Friends whom I have lost contact with for so many years contacted me and attended my mum's wake. My mobile phone was flooded with so many SMS-es that I couldn't reply all of them. To those who were expecting a reply from me, I apologize for not doing so as there were too many SMS-es till I can't reply. To those who came to my mum's wake and her funeral, your presence meant the world to me. Once again, I thank you.

On Monday, I led the prayer and funeral service at home at 1330. After that, we departed to Jesus Caritas in Kepong Baru for the funeral mass. I presented an eulogy for my mum and this is my script.

Faith is a wonderful and powerful gift from God. This was the final lesson my mum taught me during her battle with cancer. She was diagnosed with breast cancer early last year. Naturally, this came as a huge shock for her and my family. I remembered the time she personally broke the news to me, she repeatedly told me not to blame God and said, I quote,"If this is the cross God wants me to bear, I will bear it for it is His will be done, not mine".

All this while, my mum never asked why nor did she lament for being afflicted with this disease. The most ironic part was, instead of having the family to comfort and console her when we found out about her condition, she was the one consoling us! Even in the most agonizing last two months of her life, she repeatedly reminded us not to blame or hate God for she has already accepted whatever God has planned for her. Her unwavering faith in God was an inspiration to all of us.

Just as God has granted the gift of faith to my mum and myself, my mother has always longed for the day my father and siblings will be given this gift as well. Even though her journey on Earth has ended, I am confident that she will continue to pray for their conversion in Heaven. Hopefully, God will fulfill her wish in the near future.

On behalf of my family, I would like to express our heartfelt thanks to all our relatives, friends, BEC and the community of Jesus Caristas for your prayers, support and assistance rendered. Before I end this speech, I would like to share a poem which I think aptly describes my mum's feelings.

I'm Free

Don't grieve for me, for now I'm free,
I'm following paths God made for me,
I took His hand, I heard Him call...
Then turned, and bid farewell to all.

I could not stay another day,
To laugh, to love, to sing, to play,
Tasks left undone must stay that way,
I found my peace ... at close of day.

And if my parting left a void,
Then fill it with remembered joy,
A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss,
Ah yes, these things I too will miss.

Be not burdened ... deep with sorrow,
I wish you sunshine of tomorrow,
My life's been full ... I've savoured much,
Good friends, good times ...
A loved one's touch.

Perhaps my time seemed all too brief,
Don't lengthen it now with undue grief,
Light up your heart and share with me,
God wants me now ... He set me free.

Author Unknown

Once the mass ended, we departed to Nilai Memorial Park and there my mum was laid to rest. Now, there will still be another 3 days of prayer at my home which will end this coming Thursday. It will start at 9pm and led by yours truly. If you want to participate, do give me a ring and I will let you know the directions to my place.

I would also like to take this opportunity to announce that I will no longer reside in Cyberia. Instead, I will be travelling back and forth between my house in Kepong to Cyberjaya until further notice. After the passing of my mum, things have changed... for better or for worse, I wouldn't know.

Finally, I would once again want to thank everyone who participated in my mum's wake and funeral. Thank you for all the condolences and well wishes. Many thanks for the support and assistance rendered to my family and I. God bless

Thanks...

2006-03-03T02:35:00.000+08:00

I wish to express many thanks to all those who have prayed for my mother all these while. My heartfelt gratitude to all those who provided support to my mum, my family and myself throughout my mum's battle with cancer.

My mum passed away peacefully at 1219am in Damansara Specialist Centre's Intensive Care Unit. We are in the process of making arrangements for her funeral. Once again, I would like to thank all of you who prayed and supported us throughout this ordeal. Do continue to pray for us. God bless

Friends? Fuck them...

2006-03-01T23:49:00.000+08:00

Recently I came to a conclusion that friends are... well... bunch of leechers. Family...they are the ones you would want to place your faith in. Why do people hang out with people who have cars? So that they can hitch a ride to class or go to the movies without resorting to taking the bus. Why do average students flock to be friends with super-smart asses in class? So that they can leech knowledge from them. This may include assignment and tutorial solutions as well as requiring the smart asses to assist them in their revision.

Why do people flock to be friends with popular people? So that they can leech their popularity and share the limelight. Why do people approach their so-called confidante/confidant? That's because the confidante/confidant is the only person whom you can hog their time and bitch about your dislikes without feeling guilty since it is your right to do so. The list goes on and on... In short, friends can be concluded as people who leeches off you and in a symbiotic relationship, lets you leech off them. The only person you can really trust, is yourself. Going through a hard time? Slug it out. Never rely on anyone. Feel like bawling your heart out? Do that to the wall, they are better listeners.

Ah...I am just bitching about irrelevant things. That's what blogging is about. In conclusion, the term "friends" is just a fucked-up term for a symbiotic leeching process. Final conclusion? Fuck friends. They are just a bunch of leechers.

The end of the road?

2006-02-28T22:56:00.000+08:00

I still remember when I was in Form 3 when I was preparing myself for Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) (or bluntly interpreted as Lower Secondary Examinations) when one of my good friend's mum battled cancer. Back then, all I could do was to sympathize with him and gave him moral support. I could never understand how he felt throughout Form 3 and I will never possibly comprehend the agony he suffered when his mum passed away when the Government examinations was just around the corner... or so I thought...

I am at the most crucial point of my academic career in Multimedia University. This will be my last trimester in this university and I have to complete my Final Year Project (FYP) in order to graduate. I am already in my fourth week of the trimester and in less than six weeks, I have to submit my FYP. Midterms and assignment deadlines are looming nearer and it is this time, a huge emotional strain has befallen on my family and I.

At this very moment, my mum is warded in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Damansara Specialist Centre. In my previous entry a couple of months back entitled Faith is a wonderful thing, I shared that my mum was afflicted with cancer and it has spread to her lungs and brains. Less than four months later, the cancer cells has spread to a point where the doctors have already told my family and I to make preparations for the worst as there is nothing much they can do. My mum is on permanent morphine drips in order to help her cope with the immense pain she is going through and she is on a respiratory machine to assist her to breathe. Even with so much drugs, she is still in agony and her laboured breathing, makes it even more unbearable for my family and myself. We do not know how long she has to live but according to the heart specialist who saw her chest scan she took when she was admitted to the ICU last evening, he conceded that my mother has less then three months to live and even that is being optimistic.

I did not post this entry to gain sympathy from any one of you who reads my blog. My family and I do not need or wish for any sympathies. All I ask of you, the readers, is to offer up a prayer for my mum so that God may grant her the strength to withstand the horrible agony she is in now. Do offer up a prayer or two for my family and I as we are really going through a very emotional period of our lives.

All my family and I can do now is to offer prayers for my mum and leave the rest to God. I hope that you understand the situation my family and I are in and we do not wish to be flooded with well wishes and visitations. We appreciate your good intentions but we only wish for privacy and your prayers. Thanks and God bless. :)

The horror...

2006-02-22T20:08:00.000+08:00

Recently, I noticed that I there has been water dripping on me whenever I use the toilet bowl. It was more evident whenever I am comfortably seated to drop warm-brown-sausages-look-alike into the small pool of water beneath. I dismissed it as droplets of water and since it rarely occurs, I didn't take much notice of it... This was a huge mistake.

Today, my good o' roommie told me about the droppings and we both took a look at our toilet's ceiling and to our horror...we saw this.Evidently, the "drops-of-water" weren't ordinary water as I first assumed. Stalactites had already formed from the top sewage pipe to our fluorescent light... where it goes from there, I don't think it needs elaboration. Urgh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I immediately remedied the situation by placing a huge rag on top (after demolishing the nicely formed stalactite) to absorb future droplets.

My advise to all who stay in Cyberia Condominiums...do take a look at your toilet ceiling if you ever felt droplets dripping on you.

No wonder I don't like engineering...

2006-02-16T15:14:00.000+08:00

You scored as Art. You should be an Art major! How bohemian!

Art

83%

English

83%

Theater

75%

Journalism

75%

Philosophy

67%

Anthropology

42%

Dance

42%

Linguistics

42%

Sociology

42%

Mathematics

42%

Chemistry

33%

Engineering

33%

Psychology

33%

Biology

What is your Perfect Major? (PLEASE RATE ME!!<3)
created with QuizFarm.com

Relationships and you...

2006-02-15T21:31:00.000+08:00

Woohoo!! It was Valentine's Day again (yesterday) and all the guys who are attached had to fork out a whole truckload of cash for this special occasion. Cash for an over-priced Valentine's Day dinner at some fine-dining restaurant, flowers that are outrageously expensive (only for Valentine's Day), and some lavish gift for his beloved. As for the women-folk, they only need to fork out a lump sum for her beloved's present. All these can cost easily from RM200 to RM2000 depending on how extravagant and how deep your pockets are.

Wait a minute... isn't Valentine's Day a special occasion for couples to celebrate their love for each other? How does all these materialistic items fit in? Students who are taking allowance from their parents are willing to spend up to a thousand ringgit (or more) and workers who are just earning RM1,800 permonth spending RM2,400 for a Nokia N70 for his/her beloved. Isn't this a bit excessive? What happened to the good o' spending time together and having heart to heart talk? Is Valentine's Day a day to break the bank and spend unnecessarily on lavish gifts? I don't quite see the connection between expressing your love for the other through extravagant gifts. (especially when you are a student or a fresh graduate who is barely making ends meet with your meagre salary)

Once again, I am appalled by the way the world commercializes a very special occasion. The nobel occasion of celebrating one's love for the other has 'evolved' (or 'devolved'?) into a time when you must spend lavishly in order to prove your love for your partner. I have nothing against spending for the one you love on each Valentine's Day,(in fact, you SHOULD) but when you start using materialistic items as a measurement of love, you have one screwed up relationship.

Boredom...

2006-02-13T16:18:00.000+08:00

I enjoy lazing around and doing nothing. I don't mind sitting in front of my computer and watch anime or play games the whole day. It's great to sleep the whole day away, only to wake up to scavenge for food for the growling stomach... but too much of everything is downright sickening. One hour of class from Mondays to Wednesdays and two hours on Friday if there aren't any tutorial or laboratory sessions. Even with tutorials, there is only an extra 2 miserable hours of classes. Geez...I have tried asking my Computer Graphics and Virtual Reality (VR) lecturer to bring forward the Wednesday's lecture to Monday morning so that we can have two continuous hours of class but that lazy bum told me to go make it happen. What the hell? As a student, I can't check the availability of classrooms and make bookings. Telling me to handle it is like asking me to talk to the wall. Idiot.

To make things worse, I had been having a horrible headache for almost two weeks. There was a point my headache made me so dizzy that I wanted to puke. Panadols didn't work. Sleeping only made it worse. Went to the optician to have my eyes checked, it turned out that my dominant or right eye's short-sightedness increased by 50 and my left eye's astigmatism was in the wrong axis. (No idea what the heck that means. It's something like my left eye deflects rays into my eyes on a different angle from before thus reducing my astigmatism) Unfortunately, the optician couldn't make my glasses in time and now that I am back in Dullsville, I have to bear with the old glasses (and headache) for another week.

Well, at least the weather for the past week has been quite cooling which enabled me to hide myself in my room to sleep without dying of heat stroke. Sigh... day one of the second week of the final trimester. I can't imagine how it would be like for the coming weeks... Oh God, help me!

P.S : This is an interesting website. Is it racist? Read it and decide if it is.

Back in Dullsville...

2006-02-07T12:51:00.000+08:00

It has been three days since I returned to this God forsaken "Intelligent City". In my absence, nothing much has changed. The food is still bad, lectures are still boring, Cyberia guards are rude and incompetent as usual, the scorching heat needs to time to get use to and the much anticipated completion of MMU's second phase is still ... an anticipation. The only thing that has yet to appear is the nightly smog that engulfs Cyberjaya.

On a positive note, I had made peace with a friend of mine. Our peace agreement has enabled our friends to be at ease when all of us gather for outings. The little Cold War in my little household didn't thaw but at least the warring sections are relatively at ease with each other. At the moment, things are moving in the positive direction and in my last leg of my studies in this university, I hope it will proceed down this path as I do not want to leave MMU with any grudges or misunderstandings with my fellow university mates.

As my academic career with Multimedia University is in its last chapter, I have to start seeking out employment opportunities even before I graduate. The market is pretty darn competitive and to a certain extent, pretty desperate. Thousands of students graduate from Universities/Colleges and I have to compete with these graduates as well as previous years' graduates for jobs. Soon, my parents will pass the financial burden which they had been carrying all these years back to me. I have to start repaying my study loan and find means to afford a car. Somehow, the idea of seeking employment in Singapore seems pretty tempting as I need not buy a car and the cost of living is relatively lower than Malaysia. That's just a thought... probably the market in Singapore is even more competitive than it is here and with my CGPA, I don't have the edge to compete with other first class degree holders.

Well, there's no point dwelling on some-what depressing issues such as employment and financial burdens. Worrying doesn't do any good. I will enjoy my last chapter in MMU and I sincerely look forward to a great final trimester.

P.S : My internal clock is still tuned to wake up early in the morning. I have been sleeping late for the past few days but I will automatically wake up around 8-830am without fail!!! Industrial Training screwed my unhealthy life style! Geez!!!!

Syriana

2006-02-03T04:00:00.000+08:00

On Thursday night, I was able to get tickets to the politically-charged movie Syriana starring George Clooney, Matt Damon and Jeffrey Wright. To many people, this is a pretty darn boring show and they wouldn't pay a single cent to watch it. I on the other hand, applaud Stephen Gaghan who is the director as well as the screenwriter for showing the Uncle Sam's true nature; to deceive the public on the true reason why U.S.A is so keen in meddling with Middle-East affairs.

The motto of the movie, Everything Is Connected aptly describes the situation in Middle East. The US Government is so eager to secure oil fields that they sanction assassinations on leaders whom do not have the same views as them. Pressured by rich businessmen, the mighty military even provides the state of the art military hardware to ensure the assassination is successful. The greed for oil even drove them into providing scapegoats to the Federal Court so that the Court can overlook the corruption that took place to secure such oil fields. Besides, this movie also brilliantly captures the frustration and anger of a young prince who wanted to reduce his country's reliance on oil export and build an alternative economy that will ensure the survival of his country. Not to mention that it vividly potrayed the events and circumstances that led a young jobless and desperate Muslim into carrying out kamikaze terrorist bombing as well as the politics that were involved in ensuring the US backed leader was installed into power.

Sounds too unbelievable? Some might watch this movie in disbelief that the wholesome U.S.A is capable of such acts. (or probably wouldn't understand what the movie is about in the first place!) They would probably label it as 'just another liberal rant'. I don't blame these people for being ignorant that the good o' Uncle Sam takes advantage of countries that are in disarray and if it's necessary, to create chaos to ensure that Uncle Sam's interests are protected. Syriana is just one of the rare movies that potrays the true nature of the US Government instead of the usual bunch of Hollywood movies that are all out to glorify their country. Watch it if you are able to digest the bluntness of this movie.

Well, to be fair, all the Governments in the world are like that. It's just that US gets highlighted in this movie. The conclusion I drew from this movie is that nothing is what is seems to be. No, I am not trying to imply that there's a huge conspiracy going on in the world. Things are not as simple as our Government (or any Government for that matter) wants us to believe.

Chinese New Year celebration...

2006-02-01T17:56:00.000+08:00

It's the same thing every year, ethnic Chinese celebrate this event by visiting one another while bearing angpow (red packets with money) and gifts to the host. As filial children, we are bound to accompany our parents in visiting relatives whom we barely know. It's either we bore ourselves to death by watching movies that are screened on the idiot's box or listen to the elders gossiping or criticizing the Government. To make things more 'interesting', the older folk always say the same things every year depending on which age group you are in.

For those who are between the age of 5 to 12, the usual statements are;
"Wah!!! So big already!! How old is she/he? He/she looks exactly like the father/mother!" and these statements are usually accompanied by painful pinches on the cheeks of the child. Been there and done that, why can't the adults see that this act of pinching scars the child for life! Ish... This can be classified as child abuse!

For those between the age of 13 to 18...
"Wah!!! So tall already!!! You are taller than the last time I saw you! Form what?" (Form as in secondary level 1 to 6)
If by some unlucky fate, you had just obtain results for your Penilaian Menengah Rendah (Lower Secondary Public Exam) or Sijil Penilaian Malaysia (Malaysia's equivalent to 'O' Level) that year, you will be interrogated for your results and depending on your academic achievement, you will either beam with pride or wished that you were never born. Relatives have the inate ability to crush your pride and make you feel worthless if you didn't score as many A's as their children. Heck...gatherings like this are always the place for parents to show off their children's academic achievements. So... if you aren't the smart one, try not to attend any of these gatherings unless you are mentally prepared for the abuses later on.

What about those between the age of 19 to 23?
"Wah!!! Gotten prettier/more good looking wor! What are you doing now? Studying or working? Oh...studying in which University/College? That university/college good ah? Eh...working ah? Working as what? Got girlfriend/boyfriend ah?"
I don't mind being interrogated but year-in-year-out...they ask the same freaking questions. Urgh!!!! Why do we even bother answering their questions when they will forget about it almost instantaneously and repeat their questions next year? Damn...they should start making notes on who is doing what and stop repeating themselves!!!!

For those aged 24 and above... and if you aren't married yet, God help you;
"Wah...when are you getting married? Got someone already ah? Your parents are waiting until their necks have grown long for grandchildren la..."
Thank God I have not reached that age group to be interrogated in such a manner. It's not that I am against them asking such questions but there are relatives who are so inconsiderate that they embarass us in front of everyone. It's as though they have every right to know every aspect of our life...

Well, Chinese New Year isn't all that bad (apart from all those nosy relatives)... It is also the time when all immediate family members return and gather at their parents' house for reunion dinner. Thanks to this, we can meet up with most of our friends whom we have not met for the whole year! Not to mention the sinfully tasty cookies and pastries that awaits us! For avid gamblers, this is the time when older folks provide the capital for you to gamble your hearts out!

If only we can remove the annoying-relatives part... I think Chinese New Year celebrations will be more enjoyable! Hehe... Anyway, I am rambling here... I guess I shall end this entry here and brace myself for more tasty cookies and angpows! Muahahahaha...

FREEDOM!!!!

2006-01-26T23:30:00.000+08:00

It's been almost a week since my last entry... been too busy with my grandma's funeral and my Industrial Training Report till I neglected my beloved blog. Nothing interesting had occured for the past week except the fact that I was released from the Legendary Shit-Hole Hotel! Woohoo!!!!

On Wednesday, I didn't even bother to do any work other than to print my report. Thanks to Mr.Senior-Officer's instruction to dismantle the power supply unit to the only computer we use that has network access, I had the opportunity to edit my report and print copies of it outside my office. Since it was office's equipment, Yap and I didn't bother saving for them... after all, they didn't even pay us, why should we help them save on office stationeries? For our report, we wasted one whole ream of Double A A4 paper and we didn't feel guilty at all! Hahahah... Tan on the other hand was busy covering our asses since he was the only one in the office... Mr.Lazy-One and Mr.Senior-Officer were happily assigning cases to him. Hehehee...

At lunch time, Mr.Arrogant-One and Mr.Lazy-One brought the three of us to Di-Atas Brasserie (Legend's Restaurant) and treated us to the buffet. Honestly speaking, the main course was nothing spectacular but the pastries and cakes were fantastic! The small tarts they had were awesome! They had more than 10 different types of cakes...not counting the different buns, ice cream, tarts, pies... waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. I had a hell-of-a-good time sampling all of them! Muahahahahaha... Oh yeah, throughout lunch, Mr.Arrogant-One was trying to brainwash every one of us to abandon the technical field and join Singapore Airlines as Air Stewards. The reason? You get high pay, fly all over the world and most importantly, you get a lot of hot chicks. When I questioned Mr.Arrogant-One if he regretted choosing this career... he simply said,"Of course!". Geez... He has a wife and a kid...and he still thinks like a bloody 18 year old! High pay and hot chicks? Sounds like the fantasy of a adolescent than a so-called head of a department. None-the-less, Mr.Arrogant-One wasn't as arrogant as we thought. He can really talk-cock. For someone his age (late 30s or early 40s), he sure knows how to bull-shit and crack jokes that we (early 20s) can relate to.

After lunch... we all headed back to office to resolve Kitchen Department's computer... and the afternoon passed so fast that day. Before I knew it, it was almost 6pm! As usual, I went around snapping photos and videos and at 6pm, the three of us bid our superiors farewell, clocked out and headed to McDonalds to have one last round of ice-cream. We talked cock for about half-an-hour before leaving the Mall for good.

Here are some pictures I took along with captions...

The infamous Legenda Cafe...the place to be if you want to immunize your digestive system against spicy food.

MIS' trolly and Legend Hotel Grandballroom's toilet. Nice place to hide and escape from work.The three Legendary suckers... From left, Tan Kong Hooi, Brian Yap and Yours TrulyFrom left, Mr.Lazy-One and Mr.Senior-Officer

Legend Hotel Kuala Lumpur and The Mall... though I have my grudges against the management... I shall never forget the experience I had here. It was certainly an eye opener to the real working world. Farewell Legend Hotel, I hope I will never see you again in the future! You can burn down for all I care! Hehe...

PS: To all my Chinese friends... Happy Chinese New Year to all of you! To my non-Chinese friends... Happy Holidays!!! See you all next trimester!

Bad dream...bad omen

2006-01-20T16:57:00.000+08:00

Yesterday night, my maternal grandmother was admitted into Sunway Hospital's Intensive Care Unit. Upon arrival, her heart had already stop beating and for a brief moment, she was certified dead by the doctor on duty. As if she didn't want to die in a hospital, the last attempt to revive her was successful and she was warded in ICU for observation. Though she was in critical condition, the doctor said she had stabilized significantly and by now, she was already comatosed. Leaving only the eldest and youngest son to stay by her that night, the rest of the family members returned home. (myself included)

This morning, I had a very frightful dream similar to one of the many frightful dreams I had in the past. In the dream, I had entered a mansion and I immediately knew something wasn't right. The mansion was like a huge maze and I was to stay overnight there. A lot of weird things occured such as invisible doors slamming onto me and weird shadowy figures following me. That night (in the dream), as I was sleeping, some invisible force covered my head with a huge cloth and were shoving me around. As if it was reflex, my mind started to recite the Lord's Prayer and the Rosary. Unlike my previous dreams I had about me exorcising spirits or my dead relative asking for my assistance, I felt real fear in this dream and it jolted me awake. Later in the morning, I woke up and went to take my shower and noticed that my necklace with a crucifix was missing. Once I had showered, I went to my bed and found that the chain had snapped...call me superstitious or what not, at that point, I knew something bad had occured to my grandma.

Unfortunately, my premonition was right and the moment I met my mum downstairs, she instructed me to take emergency leave as the doctor said my grandma's pulse has dropped drastically and she is going to pass on very soon. My father who was on the way to work came home to pick my mum and I. We headed to Damansara Specialist Centre because my mum was scheduled to have her white-blood cells booster jab today in preparation for her next chemotherapy. Once that was done, we headed to my grandma's home. At about 11pm, my uncle, together with the ambulance, brought my grandma back to her home. Soon after they removed the breathing apparatus, the Lord called her back to His side.

About six hours later, I have returned home to rest (and blog about it. :Þ) before heading back to my grandma's home to help out. We weren't able to schedule a funeral service this weekend and had to wait for Monday for the service and her cremation. I have always wanted to end my industrial training early and somehow, I got my wish... in a very weird way... Geez... Anyway, to all those reading this, do pray for my grandma's soul. :) Thanks.

What a week...

2006-01-18T19:56:00.000+08:00

Things have been great for the past week in shit-hole Legend Hotel. No, it's not because things got better. They have not changed their policy of not paying trainees and Mr.Lazy-One never got more hardworking. Things were great simply because... I have mastered the art of avoidance. My partner in crime, Mr.Yap, has been very corporative in executing whatever means necessary for us to sneak out of the office and just not work. Hehe... We have been assisting each other to get out of the office without arousing suspicion but there are times we just don't give a damn and leave the office without telling Mr.Lazy-One or Mr.Senior-Officer. Hell, it's the last two weeks of this torture and I honestly wouldn't give a rat's ass what my superiors think especially Mr.Lazy-One.

Though we have perfected the art of avoidance, there are times that we really have to get things done and today is a good example. Somehow, everything in Legend-Shit-Hole-Hotel went wrong and required MIS' expertise. It all began after lunch hour when Mr.Lazy-One told me to bring a laptop to check connectivity for room 1718 in the riser room where the network switches are located. Once I was there, the room's light was not working and MIS (pathetically) does not have any torch lights. I have to make do with the lights from the corridor. Fine...I can deal with that and I began my quest to find the network cable for room 1718. Suprise suprise, there are five switches and each switch has 24 patch cords (network cable) attached to it. I had to unplug each cable, look at the label and plug it for all 120 cables in a small 1X1 metre room with no light. Lo-and-behold! After spending almost an hour rummaging through the wire maze, I can't find it because most of the labels have faded. Not able to do anything, I reported back to office but Mr.Lazy-One asked me to verify if room 1718 has no network connection at all. Obediently, I did as I was told and completed it in 20 minutes. (I could have procrastinated longer but lugging a laptop around is no fun)

Having done that, I thought I could sit down and relax for a while but the phone rang and room 1709 was having connectivity problems. I was once again dispatched to the scene along with a security escort. By looking at the thin-client in that room, I immediately notified the ACN vendor (which is suppose to provide support to all the thin-clients in the first place!) and told him the problem. The vendor told me he will restart the thin-client from the server side and I thought case was closed... so I thought. I returned to my office and again Mr.Lazy-One sent me back up to the operator room on 9th floor to call FCS vendor to troubleshoot the FCS System (A system that captures all outgoing calls made by the hotel and bills it to the customers) Just when I was about to call the vendor, I recalled that our Computerized Lodging System (CLS) had been shut down earlier on for maintenance and I phoned Mr.Lazy-One to ask if that affected the FCS System. The answer I obtain was a resounding no. (Later I found out from Mr.Senior-Officer that it was indeed the CLS system that was affecting the FCS system. Stupid Mr.Lazy-One...)For the next thirty minutes, I was talking on the phone with the FCS vendor and finally, the vendor told me that he will dial into the FCS system to solve the problem. Basket...if he had done that earlier, I wouldn't have to go through all the trouble of blindly clicking on the system's interface.

As I was just putting down the phone, the operator on duty, Jay, told me that the guest in room 1709 was looking for me. I called up the ACN Vendor once more and asked if he had resolved the problem and was assured that the problem was rectified. Almost instantaneously after I ended the conversation with the vendor, I rang the guest's room and another problem cropped up. Again, I had to run back up to the room with my security escort to see what the problem was. Went in, saw what the problem was and I rushed back to the operator room to call the ACN Vendor again. While I was talking to the ACN Vendor, Mr.Senior-Officer (SO) called me on my mobile phone and I had to put the vendor on hold to talk to Mr.Senior-Officer. This was the conversation that had transpired.

Mr.SO : Aun, did you call FCS vendor?
Me : Yes, I did
Mr.SO : Who ask you to call?
Me : Mr.Nicholas asked because user complained that the system stopped capturing calls
Mr.SO : Oh...actually there is no problem with FCS
Me : Erm sir...I am on the phone with ACN Vendor. Can I get back to you later
Mr.SO : Ok nevermind. FCS vendor called me and talked to me already. You no need to do anything with the system.
Me : Ok ok. I talking to the ACN vendor now... I need to go
Mr.SO : Ok nevermind. (What's with him and this phrase????) You don't do anything with the system. No need call FCS already. Ok? I will talk to FCS.
Me : ... ... ... Ok ok. (And he finally ended the conversation)

By the time I got back to the ACN vendor, he had already hung up. What the heck was wrong with Mr.Senior-Officer? I have made it known twice that I was on the phone but he insisted on talking to me with his usual slow talk. He is either very blur or he is just plain inconsiderate. Within the next 5 minutes, I managed to call the ACN vendor and was told that they cannot rectify the problem by today. This time, I didn't bother letting the guest know and I told the front desk personnel that they must change rooms for the guest as the vendors are not able to resolve the issue.

At long last, I managed to finish all the problems that popped up within that 3 hours. From 2pm to 5pm, I have been running around making calls and going into hotel rooms to provide support. The moment I got back into the office, I immediately started the art of avoidance. I summoned my partner in crime to have a drink at our cafeteria. 20 minutes gone. We walked all over the place and another 10 minutes gone. Just about then, we got bored of walking aimlessly so we headed back to office and unlucky me, Legend College was having problems printing and I was sent to rectify the problem. By the time I reach the administration's office, it was already 10 minutes to 6pm and the staff were getting ready to leave! Thank God my fellow trainee was smart enough to call me at 6pm to ask my whereabouts. He told me that Mr.Lazy-One wasn't in and Mr.Senior-Officer was on the phone... excellent timing for us to leave! He volunteered to bring my bag to the security office and I agreed to meet him there. at 608pm, we clocked out at the security office and we were on our way home! Hehe...another day where we managed to clock out before 610pm! Wahahahahahah...what an achievement! :Þ

Tomorrow will be another day where the art of avoidance will be practiced and perfected further! I shall look forward to another day in Legend-Shit-Hole-Hotel without much work! Let's hope there will be lesser work tomorrow...better still, no work at all! :Þ

My computer, my heartache...

2006-01-15T11:49:00.000+08:00

I had a freaking frustrating Saturday. I have to format and troubleshoot computers at my work place and I had to do the same for my beloved computer at home. It's not that I mind formatting the harddrive and reinstalling everything for this PC, I was just frustrated at the fact that I had spent the whole freaking day to troubleshoot the problem of my computer crashing on a regular basis, programmes not running the way it should and not able to reboot on its own even after a fresh OS installation.

I tried to use different *ahem* copies of Windows XP with SP2, reverted my SLi graphic cards (Scalable Link interface for dual Graphic Cards) drivers to the older one, flashed my BIOS to the older versions and installed older chipset drivers. Nothing seems to work. The problem of my motherboard's BIOS updater not being able to detect my motherboard keeps popping up (and when this happens, a whole lot of programmes cannot be installed or won't run after installation). Finally, after a whole day of flashing the BIOS and reinstalling Windows, I finally found the problem. My Creative Audigy 2 ZS drivers (for you noobs, it's my soundcard) was the problem. I was using the Beta Unified drivers and everytime I installed that driver, it screws up my registry and corrupts my chipset drivers as well as my OS. Of course, for me to finally pinpoint this problem after a whole day of troubleshooting, I was in a very foul mood (profanities abound!) but thank God I retained my sanity and didn't throw my beloved CPU off the cliff or douse water onto it. Man... this is the last time I am ever going to try any Beta drivers for any of my computer hardware and peripherals!

Lessons learnt... part 2

2006-01-11T21:00:00.000+08:00

User discretion is advised. Scattered profanities in this entry.

Last week, Yap and I decided to try our luck to end our training a week earlier. Thus, both of us approached Human Resource's officer to inquire about the procedure. Without even questioning us much, the officer gave us the application form for leave and instructed us to get it from our department's manager, the dreaded Arrogant-One or better known as Mr.Li Sen. We did as we were told and lo-and-behold, we were given 30 minutes of lecture on how to manipulate others and consolidate your power by hording all the latest computer peripherals and not letting anyone outside my department use it. Once he had completed his nothing-to-do-with-our-application-for-early-termination speech, he told us to ask our supervisor since we are directly under his supervision. Lesson learnt; never ask Mr.Arrogant-One anything unless you are prepared for a lecture that has nothing to do with the question you asked.

The next day, we summoned our courage to ask our "beloved" supervisor, the Lazy-One or Mr.Nicholas to approve our application. Once again, we were given half an hour of harsh lecture (more like scolding) that we can't apply leave. Lesson learnt; Legend Trainees have no rights. Even the janitors can apply for leave but not us. We have to work without pay for long hours and get scolding for fun. At the end of that day, Mr.Lazy-One was struck by some lightning or must have hit his head hard because he asked both of us to reduce our application from a week to three days. The reason was that it was easier for him to push our application through. Lame. Mr.Arrogant-One already approved our leave on condition that Mr.Lazy-One approves too. Lesson learnt; Mr.Lazy-One must embark on a journey to recover his courage (better known as 'balls' or testicles) so that he can once more have the guts to make decisions on his own.

Oh, did I forget to mention the food in our Legenda Cafe has deteriorated to a point that the food is only fit for dogs? They no longer follow the menu and the continuous onslaught of curry and spicy dishes everyday has turned my digestive system into battle-hardened-gastronomic- units. Now, thanks to Legend's legendary shitty cafeteria, I have been immunized against all spicy food. Once again, I owe all this to Legend Hotel, the place to be if you want to get accustomed to Malaysian's spicy delicacies.

Today, my fellow trainee, Yap and myself were so busy rushing to finish our assigned tasks; to format a computer each and reinstall all the necessary applications and settings before 6pm. Sounds easy. It actually is! We have done this so many times that we can do it with our eyes closed. The hard part was actually doing this task and running around doing things that were originally Mr.Lazy-One's work! I had to run to the store to bring back 4 identical CPUs to determine which motherboard and power supply was salvagable so that the housekeeping's computer can be reincarnated. Seeing that I was so busy helping Yap with this task (Yap was elsewhere troubleshooting since he couldn't figure out why the PC won't boot), Mr.Lazy-One left me alone. For a brief moment. 20 minutes prior to lunchtime, Mr.Senior-Officer or better known as Mr.Chan instructed me to start on the other PC that I was told to format. At the same time, Mr.Lazy-One received a call from Corporate Office on the 33rd floor to troubleshoot some internet connectivity problem with one of the big shots. Ms.Lee Yen specifically asked for Mr.Lazy-One to come but he sent me instead. I grudgingly complied and to my suprise, I was interrogated by Ms.Lee Yen on the reason Mr.Lazy-One didn't show up again. Once the brief interrogation was over, I was led to the problem. The big shot's laptop can't obtain an IP address and thus, he can't go online (to download porn?). I immediately checked and found out that it was the server that was at fault since it was not assigning IP address like it should. I rang back to Mr.Lazy-One and I had to endure the most insulting conversation I ever had.

Me: Sir,the server is not assigning IP to this laptop.
Mr.Lazy-One: Is the network cable plugged in or not?
Me: ... ... ... Yes (I almost blurted out...You think I am so fucking stupid as not to check that?)
Mr.Lazy-One: The network card got light blinking or not?
Me: DUH!!!!! IT'S THE FUCKING SERVER NOT ASSIGNING IP!!!! What the fuck!?(Well, I wanted to say that. Fortunately I didn't) Yes sir.
Mr.Lazy-One: Try restarting the computer and see
Me: Already done that. (Rolling my eyes and banging my fists on the table) Still doesn't work
Mr.Lazy-One: Ok, you come down and take our laptop and go test it out.
Me: Yes sir.

Thank God it was already lunch time and Ms.Lee Yen told me to go grab lunch first before returning to finish the job. I already lost 10 minutes of my lunch time no thanks to this. After lunch, I loitered around The Mall until it was 2pm and returned to office. Luckily, Mr.Senior-Officer helped me to complete the task since I had to complete installing all the necessary stuff into the PC assigned to me. Mr.Lazy-One on the other hand, was furiously typing on his keyboard. Woa...he is actually working for once! An hour later, he was still furiously fingering his keyboard. I noticed that his fingers were fixated on the arrow keys and the left side of the keyboard. I snuck behind the huge UPS to get a glimpse on what he was busy doing, to my suprise, that bastard was playing a tennis game! What the fuck!? Mr.Senior-Officer, Yap and myself were working our asses off and Mr.Lazy-One was playing tennis!!! This fucking hypocrite was also the one who sternly warned all of us not to play games during office hours. There goes my last shred of respect I ever had for this asshole.

I managed to snap a picture with my phone. That's my supervisor's monitor.

I was damn furious over this but since he was my supervisor, I can't just blurt out and screw him. I kept quiet and went on with my work. Lesson learnt; Managers or supervisors are there to sit back and relax as he instructs his subordinates to do all his work. Mental note to self; Do what I can (ethically) to get my way to the top so that I can earn a fat paycheck and let everyone below me do my work.

Conclusion? Legend Hotel is truly a shitty place to work in. Well, to be fair, it's probably just the Finance and IT division. One thing is for sure, I am never going to work in this hell-hole unless it's the last place on Earth where I can work. Legend Hotel, the truly legendary shit-hole of a workplace.

Why are people the way they are?

2006-01-08T11:55:00.000+08:00

When I first started blogging, one of my good friends from high school days (one year my junior) made this statement,"Aren't you afraid you might anger some people with your blog?" I didn't even bother to think and replied,"If I was afraid, I wouldn't even start blogging at all". Reason is, I am a crude, untactful (on purpose and can be very persuasive when situation demands it) and straight-to-the-point-no-nonsense person. I have my fair share of people who dislikes me. Does this make me fear posting like I do? No. I post to bitch about people whom I dislike because I don't want to suffer in silence. Prior to blogging, I would made known if some ass had angered me and I don't care if that would give the impression that I am backstabbing that individual or being labelled as 'gossiping'. Better for people to think indifferently about me than for me to swallow crap and eat me from inside. Too bad not everyone thinks like me.

I have encountered so many friends who gave me the honour to be their confidant (male version of confidante. Uncle Chan's Shrink Service anyone? :Þ) to rant about things in life. This particular case is about a housemate from hell (A guy whom I never liked because he just loves to put "air" around him and brags when he doesn't have nuts to back up his claims) during Industrial training somewhere in Malaysia. I won't be mentioning details here but all I can say is, this guy is a pure ass. Those who saw how jackass I was (and probably still is), I pale in comparison to this guy. There are things even I won't bring myself to do no matter how pissed I am and he does all that to his housemates whom aren't even his enemies. Well, I might be hearing biased stories about him but those stories coming from two very nice and relatively well known individuals (in our circle of friends in MMU), I find very little cause to doubt the things I heard.

When asked on the reason these two chose to keep mum over such insults and abuse, they replied that they didn't want to make a fuss out of it. The end. Nudge to provide an answer on why they didn't retaliate and set the record straight with all the false accusations, (which were made to make this asshole look good. Remember that I mentioned that this asshole loves to put on 'air'? He also loves to belittle others just to boost his own image and ego. I know cause I have mixed around with him often enough to know this) this friend of mine just replied,"I can't bring myself to be as low as him". What the hell? I reasoned that they will be only setting the record straight and let the world know the sufferings they endured but the answer came back the same. All they can do now is to endure this mental torture from this asshole until their Industrial Training is over in a week's time. One thing they were very convicted in is, I quote,"I will never be his friend after this...EVER!"

I could only listen to this rant in disbelief. If I was in any of their shoes, I would have done things very differently. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) not everyone is as confrontational and direct as I am. Some people just choose to accept the whole truck-load of shit and suffer in silence. My advice to the people who reads my blog, try to be more confrontational. I am not advocating that you get into fist or cat-fights, (which mysteriously seem to be very attractive to some guys?) all I am saying is don't let people walk all over you. Not making a fuss is one thing, letting people go overboard and step all over you is another. Make your stand known and though you might anger some people along the way, it's better compared to the mental torture you have to go through if you didn't.

Take cue from me (fuiyoo...talking like a pro! :Þ), like the saying goes, a pen is sharper than a sword (did I get it right?). Rant all you want in a blog. You aren't spreading slander or what not but merely expressing facts and opinions of certain individuals whom you feel strongly against about. Think of it as rendering a public service to the world by letting people know how mean and jackass some individuals can be. ;)

First MC at work...

2006-01-05T12:06:00.000+08:00

Urgh... Kept waking up at night because I was either shivering of cold or sweating profusely because I was too hot. Geez... What a way to start year 2006. Went to work today only to end up coming back at 11pm.

When I first clocked in I was already wearing my jacket. My supervisor asked me to consult the doctor and get the proper documentations done. I had to take the doctor's slip from the Finance head of department's secretary, fill up the details, let the Finance head sign it and bring it all the way to Human Resource department to get my slip to consult the doctor. If I was really dead sick, I think I would have probably died before getting all those done. Once I had my slip in hand, I waited till 10am for the clinic to open.

I walked groggily to the clinic located on the 4th floor of The Mall and registered myself. Again, I had to wait for another 15 minutes for the doctor to see me. (Well, at least I did not have to wait for 2 and half hours when I went to Putrajaya Hospital around midnight for high fever 4 years ago) Being such a good patient, I described that I was having on-and-off hot/cold spells, my back near my butt and my legs were aching, my abdomen has a nagging discomfort since last night and had loose bowels. The kind doctor took my temperature which was normal and then politely instructed me to lie on the bed so that he can diagnose me better. Once that was done, the doctor said he had no idea what was wrong with me. All I can do now is to take some antibiotics, fever medication that doubles as painkiller, diarrhea pills and some miniture mentos lookalike pills to address my stomach discomfort. He asked me to monitor myself and see how this thing goes. I bid the doctor farewell and took my medication from the receiptionist. The receiptionists gave me all the necessary items and asked if I think I can work. I stupidly said I could and she instructed me to return for a medical certificate (mc) if I want to return home.

I went back up to my office and my supervisor asked why I didn't take MC. After pondering for 5 minutes on how stupid I was to reject the half day off to rest at home, I went back to the clinic to get my MC. I passed the MC to the secretary of the Finance head and left my office immediately after that. Reached home 40 minutes later and I had to walk through scorching hot afternoon. Geez... Now I am finally home, I am blogging about it. Hahahhaah... crap.

Getting my rest now. Hopefully, I will get better by tomorrow. Till then, it's nap time for me.

Penang,to and back...again

2006-01-02T18:14:00.000+08:00

It was a long weekend and I managed to take a day off from work so I went up to Penang with two of my friends. This time, instead of taking the much dreaded 4 hours plus bus ride, my friend drove. Left Kuala Lumpur at around 1015 and we managed to reach Penang before 2pm. Once we arrived, we embarked on a journey to sample as many hawker food as we possibly could! Muahahahahahah... Man, Penang is indeed the makan haven!!!!! Thank God my friend Justin who drove is also another person who just loves to eat. Together Adel and Alice (Justin's beloved), we had awesome eating sessions at various places such as Air Itam, Jelutong and Penang city area. Shioooooooooooooooooooooook... here are some of the pictures along with its respective captions.

Ais Kacang special

This is the ais-kacang special I had at Sawtau Lane. (Did I get the name right?) Nothing spectacular other than it has 8 types of fruits in it. This was our second stop after we arrived in Penang. Prior to this,we had asam laksa at Air Itam area. It is also in Sawtau hawker area I had Penang Rojak. It was awesome!

In the evening, I met up with Chee Han, Joshua, Lincoln and Daniel. Then, we headed to the infamous Pirated DVD Haven; Midlands Shopping Mall. There, DVD 9 are priced at RM3 per piece. Man, I would have felt very guilty if I didn't buy some DVDs. RM3 for DVD 9! It was so darn cheap!!!!!! (One of us... was eager to purchase some *ahem* DVDs but bailed out at the last minute with the reason, he can download it for free! haha...)

Pirated DVD haven

They even had a Top 10 list!

After that, the whole gang headed to some hawker area in Penang where I had the best hor chien (fried oysters) ever. The oysters were just huge. Even the ones in Klang weren't as big as these. Once dinner was over, I headed back to N-park to celebrate a quiet New Year with my beloved and the other couple. Note to myself; having an icy cold beer with chips and lazing around with the ones you really care is waaaaaaaaaaaay better than crowding at certain 'happening' places or go clubbing. Should do this more often!

The next day, the four of us headed down to the area next to Air Itam to taste another asam laksa stall. I can't remember the name of this place but if you are coming from Penang town, you would normally take the 9 o'clock at the round about to Air Itam but this place is the 12 o'clock junction. Trust me when I tell you that this asam laksa is way better than the more popular one in Air Itam. Too bad the stalls weren't open at the time we arrived and we thought they were closed for the day. So we headed to the food court opposite the stalls and had our lunch. To our suprise, the stalls opened at 2pm just as we were leaving and we decided to have a second round of lunch! Muahahahaa...

Here, we just arrived at the hawker stalls.

One thing I love about Penang hawkers is that they use those metal tables and stools. It gives the authentic 'old-school-hawker' feeling unlike those in KL where they use plastic stools and tables.

Kuey Teow Th'ng which was very tasty.

This was the third dish I had. Prior to this, I already had duck rice and the awesome asam-laksa. Once this was done, I had mua chi for dessert. This is some sort like a chewing gum made of flour and mixed with crushed peanuts. I didn't manage to snap a picture of it since I was too busy stuffing myself with food. :Þ

At night...the four of us headed to Jelutong area for dinner! Once there, we quickly settled down and ordered a large variety of hawker food!

Jelutong hawker area

Another picture of the hawker area from where I sat

I had char-kuey-teow (fried kuey-teow mee), loh-mee (mee in thick gravy which I have no idea what it was), hor-chean and char-kuey-kak (fried something? Don't know how to describe this). I washed all the food down with an icy cool lin-chi-kang. Thank God food in Penang is dirt cheap else I would be broke eating the way I did.

Here's the aftermath. Mind you, there were only 4 of us. Hehe...

On the last day, we decided to scale back on our eating and settled down for some hawker food in Penang City area. (I don't really know if it was in Penang City or elsewhere. I was just the passenger! :Þ) Once we had our early lunch, we proceeded to Ghee Heang to purchase some biscuits before sending Adel back and left for KL.

I might sound as though I ate like a pig, erm... I did. The only thing to do in Penang is to eat, eat and eat somemore! The hawker food in Penang is just awesome! Too bad I can't say the same to the places of interest. (No offence to Penangites!) Ah...Penang! This time's visit was truly a gastronomic adventure that didn't bore a hole in my wallet. Hehehe...Penang, I shall return in the near future for a second round of makan adventure!!!!!!

Farewell Grand Seasons...

2005-12-30T21:19:00.000+08:00

I can't believe how fast time flies. Less than a month ago I was transferred to Grand Seasons Hotel from Legend Hotel. Little did I realize, I have reached the end of the month (and end of the year!) and I have to bid farewell to this wonderful place. Though it's only less than a month I have been working here, I grew attached to the awesome working environment here. The staff here are all very friendly (there are some assholes though) and great to work with. The food's way better and working conditions are less stressful compared to its sister hotel. I have to admit that the work load here is less than those in Legend but this is because of the wonderful maintainence job done by my supervisor, Mr.Balan.

Before I left, I managed to take some pictures with my Nokia 6630 on almost all the staff in Sales and Human Resource Department. Of course, how can I not take pictures of the staff in my MIS department? Regretfully, I missed out certain departments due to time constrain. I missed out Ms.Yatie, Ms.Lin, Ms.Kelly, Mr.Azizi, Ms.Chang, Ms.Uma and Ms.Elsy from Accounts department, Ms.Rohaya from Engineering department, Ms.June and Ms.Catherine from Purchasing and Ms.Rosemary from Executive office. Mr.Vincent (Acting GM), Mr.Yap from Human Resource, Mr.Hazali and Ms.Zaza from Sales Department weren't in when I was going around snapping pictures so I didn't manage to snap their photos. Did I miss anyone? Oh yeah! Mr.Surjit, the head of F&B and Ms.Siah from Back Office. Ms. Siah always pesters me to replace her faulty keyboard. Not forgetting Mr.Alex (who taught me ways to sabotage my supervisor. No, he isn't Mr.Balan's enemy, he is my supervisor's good friend!) and Mr.Sumen from Cost Control. Anyway, here are the photos I took today and as usual the captions that accompanies each of them.

First photo is a picture of my MIS department!

From left : Mr.Balan, my supervisor and Riyaz, my fellow trainee!

I am truly grateful to have worked under Mr.Balan. He is always eager to teach Riyaz and myself what he knows and never treated us as trainees, he thought of us as his peers. (Unlike some stuck up ape in Legend who only sits in his comfortable office next to the server room and opens his golden mouth whenever he wants any of the trainees to photocopy documents or send some items up to Corporate office) Besides, Mr.Balan always back us up to his bosses when something went wrong and gives praises when it's due. Thank you Mr.Balan for everything you taught me and making me feel appreciated for all I have done.

Subsequent photos are people from Sales...

From left : Ms.Norazfan, Ms.Azura and Ms. Syikin (There are the only ones who calls me Nicholas)

Ms.Nadieah

Ms.Noor Ahmad

From left : Mr.How and Yvonne Liew, the Assistant Director Of Sales

Ms.Yvonne Pung! (One of the many Yvonnes. She is also the youngest in her family! :Þ)

From left : Mr.Selvan, Ms.Kit Yee, Mr.Peter Rozario and Ms.Agnes.

Ms.Kit Yee,Ms.Agnes and Ms.Yvonne Pung are the most hyper women I have met in Grand Seasons. Ms.Kit Yee is sarcastically funny, Ms.Agnes is just plain hyper and Ms.Yvonne Pung...erm erm...she just loves to talk! Hahahahah...

Ms.Goh Siew Hung
From left : Mr.Peter Rozario (again!) and Yvonne Ang (finally, the last of the Yvonne's!)
Expecting mother, Ms.Pauline! She's the secretary to Grand Season's acting General Manager, Mr.Vincent

I once said I would love to stay on in Grand Seasons for January and she tried to help me by asking Mr.Vincent to retain me. Too bad I am a trainee directly under Legend and Mr.Vincent can't really do much to help me. Ms.Pauline's help was very much appreciated!

Me and Ms.Rozita, the secretary to Mr.Surjit, head of F&B department.

Peeps from Human Resource Dept!

Ms.Hazita (who asked me to install YM for her without letting Mr.Balan know)
Ms.Vaani

Ms.Rajeswary (who lectured me on the do's and don'ts on my first day in Grand Seasons)

That's about all the photos I took today. At 6'o clock, I left my office and the people from Sales department gave me a very loud farewell. Even Mr.Vincent bid me farewell and wished me all the best when I left. Man... I am really going to miss these people. I don't know if I will have the opportunity to work again in Grand Seasons but I know I am really going to miss this place. Grand Seasons Hotel, thanks for hosting me as a trainee.

Interesting discussion...

2005-12-29T20:01:00.000+08:00

I went to MidValley on Wednesday night with two female friends to kill time after work. After having dinner at Manhattan Fish Market (which sucked. Never order the platter for three. I forgot the name) we headed to the Centre Court to watch some Christmas performance by a group of unknown dancers. (My "favourite" ex-scoutmaster happened to be one of the male faggots...OPS!! Erm...I meant performers who were dancing up there). After that, the three of us headed down to McD's to try out the new flavoured ice cream that is only available in MidValley and Gurney Plaza's McD's.

One we got our rasberry, butter pecan and tropical orange flavoured ice creams respectively, we proceeded to place out butts on the very comfortable cushioned chair in McD's. This was when the we had a very interesting discussion about appearance and relationships. (Yes yes, lame topic, but that's what most of us are really interested now, isn't it?) I can't remember what we discussed at first but one thing led to the other and I fired the first salvo by saying,"From what I can see, the 'chun-chicks' (pretty ladies) usually have very ugly boyfriends" The first female friend (I shall henceforth refer her as S) said,"This shows that men only prioritize appearance and nothing else. Women aren't like that. " My second female friend (Whom I will refer to as N) nodded in agreement. "Yes, that might be the case since 9 out of 10 men are like that but there is still one who isn't so" was my reply. N, being all fired up, replied,"That fella must be a blind man!" and we all broke into laughter. Then we all shared our 'knowledge' on our friends (who remained anonymous throughout the conversation) who had affairs behind his/her boyfriend's back as well as morons who can't give up when the person they were after clearly rejected them without any hope of being with them.

We all talked for another 20 minutes when I asked both of them,"Can you accept a guy to be your boyfriend when he is shorter than you" Almost instantly both S and N replied,"NO!" There goes their conviction that women can accept men regardless of their looks. S added,"There was once this guy who treated me really good. I had feelings for him but I just couldn't bring myself to accept him because he was just too short!" Hmmm...so my guess is, these two fellows place as much importance on appearance as their male counterparts.

Today while at work, I had another similar conversation with another female friend of mine over Yahoo! Messenger. (I shall henceforth refer her as K) As we were discussing, K willingly admitted that women do put emphasis on appearance but she added that appearance is superficial. In a relationship, what matters the most is about having the proper chemistry. She also said that handsome guys can be real jerks once you get to know them. (Same goes for women) At that very moment, I got disconnected (no-thanks to the 'ultra-high end' Pentium 166Mhz with 32MB EDO RAM Internet server in Grand Seasons which just loves to crash) and suffered a long lecture from my supervisor because I was too free today, (even though I finished all the tasks he assigned to me for the week ahead of schedule) I didn't manage to further discuss this topic with her.

I can't really say that it was very educational to have the conversations with these three pretty ladies but it did reaffirm one thing; Men and Women alike love pretty things. Men suffer more criticism because we always give the impression that we only date sexy and seductive women. Women on the other hand, have a free hand to gawk at macho good looking men and adore their sexy six packs abdomen without being chastised. When men comment on how sexy the lady who just waltzed pass is with her C-cup boobs and fishnet stockings, women label us as perverts. I have female friends who have Korean actors as their computers' wallpaper and go nuts when they see the actor's body and smile. They go all goo-goo-gaa-gaa over guys body and good looks and gets away with it. I have read a very famous Singaporean young female adult blog (Don't ask me who, go 'google' it. Hint: Her blog was voted to be the most popular blog in Singapore for 2004) that complained that her boyfriend's organ wasn't big enough. She also taught fellow readers how to measure the organ with your hands so that you can brag about it when you discuss your sex life with your close buddies. (Why the hands? Because you can't bring in a ruler to measure it when you have sex, can you?) When I related this to my female friends, all they said was,"Yeerrrrr...why like that one" The End. Not another word from them. If the blog happened to be written by a male... you will hear no end about how perverted guys can be.

Ish...what's this!? Double standards and women dare say they are being given unfair treatment. Guys are also being treated unjustly! We demand the right to gawk at beautiful women and comment without being treated as perverts. We demand the right to openly admire posters or wallpapers of good looking women without being called losers. You can do it, so can we! EQUAL RIGHTS FOR MEN!!!

PS: Ignore the last paragraph, I was just trying to be funny. :Þ

It's that time of the year again?

2005-12-27T19:35:00.000+08:00

Oh my gosh! The year 2005 is coming to an end!!! Christmas has come and gone, New Year's day is coming soon. All the more reason we should booze to usher in the New Year! Woohoo!!! Let's make resolutions that we are obligated to break after a few weeks! Yay yay~! Not to forget, prepare tonnes of panadol to nurse the bad hangover on the first day of 2006.

Alright alright...enough of those crap. A year has come and gone. I am getting older by the day and I am already part of the young adult section. What happened throughout 2005? I won't be able to pen down every single detail of every event but I will highlight the major disasters that I can remember. For starters, the world commemorated the first anniversary of the tsunami disaster that flattened many coastal towns and cities yesterday (26th December). (Alright alright, that happened in 2004 but I still consider it part of 2005 because it struck during the final days of 2004). Northern states of the Malay Peninsular were flooded thanks to the heavy downpour a week ago. It has been two and half months since a huge earthquake struck South Asia that devastated Pakistan which left hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis who live in rural areas homeless. (Not to mention, most of them starved to death because help couldn't reach them) Hurricane Katrina swept across New Orleans in early September that showed the World that the so-called the World's only Superpower can't even provide relief and support to its citizens. (In its own backyard) On a microscopic scale, the deadly (or is it?) bird flu spread its "coverage area" to include Europe. Those arrogant Europeans who once thought bird flu was not their problem were finally jolted into taking concrete steps to address the problem. Not to forget the Africans who are afflicted by HIV or die just because they are too poor to stay alive.

Did I miss anything? Well, even if I did, the things I mentioned already shown that it has been a long and turbulent year for humanity. One major disaster struck one after another. No, I am not prophesying that the end of the world is nigh. It has been a long and eventful year for all of us and I don't want to remember all the tragedies that had befallen humanity. Farewell 2005... I hope as we usher in 2006, more good news will come by.

Guest entry...

2005-12-21T21:42:00.000+08:00

After reading my entry Legendary bastards... Chee Han shared with me his experience at his company in Taman Tun Dr.Ismail. I obtained his permission to publish the email he sent me.

"U know I work in helpdesk rite?? The main antagonist is this this son of the b**ch (SOTB) who joined my company 1 month back. I remember I treat him really good, I added him to frienster, I taught him everything I know, I bring him makan with my makan geng, Gim they all, cuz tat week, when I look at him, I really feel like .. I looked back to myself 1 month back, tat y I feel like wanna treat him good …

the 2^nd week, my supervisor asked me to do some info gathering for him, for his meeting with telekom ppl, then tat fella feel tat my existence threaten him, and start to do a lot of things that irridate me … he start to tell around ppl that I m JUST a trainee, and he speak loudly in front of my supervisor that he don’t know everything, as if I did not share my knowledge with him, come on la … IF a trainee can cause so much theat to him, then this employee is really a JUNK !!! in truth, he is .. he come in by connection … he dun even know basic networking stuff like ipconfig, telnet, ping . not even know how to start command prompt !!!!! n worst of all, when I solve cases, he surf, go friendster, chat, download car vids.

this 2 week, most of the senior take turns take leave, and I ganti their day time shift, solving all the cases, without referring much help from the supervisor. Nah, Uncle, I m not boasting, most ppl said this is crazy, but I somehow managed to deal with all the odd cases. Tat fella on the other hand, dun want to do anything, just online, chat .. the 1 getting 2K, doing nothing, n the one getting 500 do everything .. this Monday, another newbie come, n I m assigned to teach him again. I wonder if y my supervisor like to ask me do work :p N again, tat idiot intro to the newbie that I m JUST a trainee … in the log (web based report) my senior address me as CSE (customer support engineer), n only him address me as trainee .. wtf, even the senior take me as peer, n he wanna tell ppl that he is superior ..

today, 1 senior on leave again, n when a level 3 engineer, who is so happen and ask abt the senior on shift, I told the engineer, its tat fella .. I said, he is the FULL EMPLOYEE … n in the end, when calls in, he refers to me everything b4 he take action, n I said, “full employee huh”, quite loud

anyway .. really fed up of this fella .. I don care .. I m like your type of ppl, very transparent one, I dun like someone, I will let the whole world know, I know I will rugi a lot, but I don care, I m after all, a trainee, if I don like the company, I need not to go back ..."

Lesson to the world, be wary of jackasses wherever you go.
P.S : Hahaha...my first guest entry. Chee Han... Thanks for the input!

Legendary bastards...

2005-12-21T19:25:00.000+08:00

This entry contains a lot of profanities. Reader discretion is advised.

My blood is really boiling now. I can deal with the fact that Legend Hotel is fucking kiam-siap (stingy) and makes use of trainees like me to the fullest. I can swallow the fact that they do not provide allowance, instead, they do provide decent meals. I don't mind paying for my own transportation and work late into the day (9am to 630pm is the norm. There are times when I stayed back beyond 730pm). It is acceptable that Legend share trainees with Grand Seasons. What I can't accept is...why the fuck do you make me walk back and forth from Grand Seasons to Legend? Not enough staff to help out? Fucking hire MORE. It's already impossible for MIS Legend to provide support to so many departments in Legend Hotel, Legend Worldwide Holidays and The Mall with 2 permanent staff. Too fucking stingy to do so? Get more fucking trainees from other universities/colleges instead of treating me like your fucking bitch who has to return to Legend whenever you feel like it.

I was already quite pissed because one particular trainee in Legend who always leave shit for me to follow up, isn't doing his work. ('He' is not Tan. Go figure) When he left Legend, I had to follow up on his filing work which took him more than two and half weeks and yet, he can't finish it. When I left for Grand Seasons, I had to redo the inventory check for all the computers and printers in Grand Seasons because the MIS supervisor there didn't trust his work. Now that he is back in Legend, MIS supervisor in Legend recalled me once from Grand Seasons to do some connectivity check simply because, my supervisor didn't trust him to shoulder that responsibility. WHAT THE FUCK!? As if things weren't fucked up enough, I had to rush and finish my work in Grand Seasons that day only to reach there and to be told by my supervisor in Legend that Tan has completed half of the work I was assigned to do. I was wondering, why can't he ask Tan to fucking complete the other half of the work instead of recalling me to fucking do it? Plus, the other trainee I was mentioning earlier was just sitting in the office formatting hard-drives that day! URGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow (Thursday) is Grand Seasons' Staff Appreciation day and in conjunction with this, they will be organizing some makan session in Olas (the Hotel's restaurant) for all of us. I was looking forward to this event because for once, I can really eat some good authentic Hotel food. Thanks to my supervisor in Legend (and the other trainee's incompetence), I was brutally robbed of this chance. Chibai... I also found out that my smart-ass supervisor wants me back in Legend for ONE fucking hour only (during lunch time). I have to return there for TWO fucking days' lunch time. After that miserable hour, I have to report back to Grand Seasons. Walk 10 minutes from Grand Seasons to Legend to work for an hour then walk another 10 minutes back to Grand Seasons from Legend for two fucking days. Thank you fucking very much Mr.Supervisor in Legend.

To Tan who will be leaving for Grand Seasons end of this month to replace me, let me be an example for what is in store for you. Be assured that you too will be recalled from time to time to cover the other trainee's imcompetent ass.

Humans...

2005-12-18T23:42:00.000+08:00

"One death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic" (Joseph Stalin)

This statement aptly describes the World today. I have been watching this movie called Hotel Rwanda which tells the story of Paul Rusesabagina who is a Hotel Manager in Rwanda. During the Rwandan Genocide, he sheltered over a thousand refugees in his hotel when the so-called first world countries chose to ignore them. Back in the early 90's, I was too young to understand what genocide or the implications of it. It was until I watched this movie, I knew a little more about the genocide and I googled it to find more answers. Almost a million Tutsi's and moderate Hutu's were massacred by the interehamwe ("coming-together") or Hutu militias and the Rwandan military. The UN, the sole-superpower of the World as well as various first world countries turned their backs to this. The movie might have have added a lot of "salt-and-flavourings" to dramatize the actual event in Rwanda but it does not change the fact that the world turn its back on the people of Rwanda. (There are still thousands of people who are massacred on a daily basis and no one gives a damn about it)

The movie highlighted that those who are in power to stop such atrocities chose to do nothing because the people who are being slaugthered do not even qualify as niggers (Western blacks). To them (and the World at large), African lives are worthless. Even our cats and dogs' lives worth more then theirs. It also highlighted how f*cking useless our United Nations (UN) is. UN is just a farce with no power at all because it has no balls to take action when any of the major Western countries disagree. (I personally think UN is nothing more than a mere paper tiger) Watching this movie reminded me of another movie I watched acted by Nicholas Cage called Lord Of War. I totally agree with what Ethan Hawke's character Agent Valentine said,"...9 out of 10 war victims today are killed with assault rifles and small arms...those nuclear missiles, they just sit in their silos...AK-47 is the real weapon of mass destruction." It is the humans who use such weapons to annihilate another. What does this tell us? The answer is plain simple, humans are the worst animals on this planet. We can do unto ourselves things that no animals can do. We rape, decapitate, torture, dismember along with all sorts of so-called inhumane acts to ourselves. Smartest animal on Earth huh? The most evolved brains and sophisticated mind huh? Yes, we are the most evolved being who can think of the best ways to mutilate and destroy ourselves.

I don't pretend that I know the solution to the World's problem. I have been living in a very comfortable bubble that shielded me from war and famine. I won't even try to pretend that I understand how the people under the duress of war or those who are starving to death feel. What I write here is just my personal opinion. The Catholic Church, along with all the other religions in the world warned us about demons and Satan from Hell and that we must be wary not to fall under their influence. I'd say, before we start worrying about demons we cannot see, we should look out for demons that are very real and very visible to us, namely human beings.

I have to confess...

2005-12-18T14:09:00.000+08:00

It's been bugging me for quite some time and I think I had to let it out. I can't bear with it anymore! It's agonizing...I can't think straight...I must get it out of my system now! (Looks around with guilt)

Alright!! I admit it! I am a shopper-holic!!!!! (Looks embarassed) I enjoy shopping! I love buying stuff!! I don't care if I am a guy or the perception that shopping is only for the fairer sex...i just LOVE shopping!

Shopping gives me gratification! I may be buying clothes, accessories for my Ipod or just plain foodstuff at Carrefour or Tesco, I feel great doing so! Muahahahahahahaha... I have the tendency to spend spend spend! That's why I am always broke. Plus, I always mix with a crowd that always encourage me to shop! Urgh...

Must put a stop to this!!! Must stop...must quit being a shopper-holic! Must resist temptation...

MMU Supervisor visited...

2005-12-15T18:02:00.000+08:00

My MMU supervisor,Mr.Shahiman called me up on Tuesday to notify me that he was coming to visit us at Legend today. He also specifically mentioned that he wants to go through my log book when he comes. The problem is, I have not updated my log books since 11th November and I had to write every support cases I had each day up till the 15th of December (The day he visited). Thank God he notified me two days ahead. After struggling for two nights, i finally updated all my cases into the log book.

This morning, I went to Grand Seasons as usual and solved whatever computer or printer problems I received that morning. At 3pm, I left and returned to Legend Hotel. The moment my supervisor at Legend saw me, he said,"Eh,you and Balan are here, there's no one in Grand Seasons?" I replied,"Oh, there's a new trainee attached to MIS Grand Seasons. He is alone there now". "Oh,good good! If that's the case, you return here tomorrow. I have work for you," he replied. I laughed because I thought he was joking at that time. Another 45 minutes passed and at about 4pm, Mr.Shahiman called Tan to let him know that he was waiting at the Hotel Lobby. Being such an obedient and courteous student, Tan went up to escort Mr.Shahiman to MIS' office. We patiently waited and another ten minutes passed with no sign of Tan or Mr.Shahiman. Yap and myself were about to start a search-and-rescue mission to recover our lost friend when Tan and Mr.Shahiman showed up. Mr.Shahiman came in, introduced himself to my supervisor, had a brief chat with him and left with us to the Hotel Lobby so that he can ask us some questions.

Once at the Lobby area, the first thing that Mr.Shahiman said was,"This is my first time being in the admin of a hotel, I never knew it was so messy!" Our Lecturer's impression on Legend took its first hit. Then Mr.Shahiman started to ask us a couple of unimportant questions such as if we are happy with the working environment, how's the meals here etc. He then proceeded to read our log books. At first glance, he thought we were doing some database project and when he finally read the logs, he gave an incredulous look and asked us to write "intelligently" in our final report on our training so that we would look as though we did something important and related to our field. After going through two log books, Yap mentioned that all these cases are already in a Excel format. Mr.Shahiman then asked,"Why didn't you just print a copy and staple it onto your log book? Erm...well, you can write all your logs to practice your handwriting skills..." At that point, we cursed ourselves for being over-hardworking. We assumed since we always had to write our lab reports, we have to do the same for our log book. Now we know that we can PRINT our reports and paste it into our log book.

Once the formalities were completed, we had a brief chat and he asked us what is the working hours in Legend Hotel. Here's the conversation; (based on what i remember)

Me : Officially, we are to work from 9am to 530pm everyday but we are only allowed to leave after 6pm.
Mr.Shahiman : Why do they keep you till after six?
Me : Sir, they said that if we were to leave at 530pm sharp, we would leave a very bad impression on our department.
Mr.Shahiman : But you are only trainees what...no allowance somemore.
Tan : The company wants it that way mah...
Mr.Shahiman : That's why i said even though this is a hotel, i feel a lot of pressure here.

I think after this conversation, Mr.Shahiman's impression on Legend has dropped another notch. Now, he probably thinks that Legend is the most stingy company around since all the companies he visited earlier on (we were the last company he visited) paid a minimum allowance of RM500. We bid our lecturer farewell and parted at Legend's lobby. I was quite delighted because I get to go home earlier today since Mr.Balan (supervisor at Grand Seasons) gave me green light to go home straight after my meeting with my lecturer.

Just when I was savouring that moment, Mr.Nicholas (supervisor at Legend) told me again to report back to Legend tomorrow so that I can go check connectivity at 15th and 16th floor which had its data points installed recently. Now I know he meant what he said earlier on. Though i get to return home earlier today, I have to report to Grand Seasons in the morning, get the MIS laptop, walk all the way back to Legend with it, check the connectivity at both floors and return to Grand Seasons once I am done. (Me and my big mouth...I shouldn't have told him about the other trainee!!!!)

I must sincerely "thank" Yap for this. Why? Thanks to him, Mr.Nicholas has an impression that I, like Yap, have absolutely nothing to do in Grand Seasons. Coupled with the fact that Yap takes three days just to format and reinstall all the necessary softwares into a computer (According to Mr.Chan) and Tan is always busy doing support outside the office, I have just became the best candidate to check the connectivity on the two floors. This time, it's for testing connectivity, I shudder at the possibility that I will need to return to Legend for the second time just to help out in the near future. Legend...for providing us with one meal everyday, they sure make us work like dogs. Sigh...that's the working world for you.