When that time comes...

2 weeks ago, at a very early hours of this day, I received a call. While still in-between the state of being asleep & awake, I heard this distraught voice of my friend telling me that another friend had passed away. It felt really unreal as if I was in a nightmare... and frankly speaking it still feels the same.

Unfortunately, this is no nightmare. This friend of ours, a mother of 3 young kids, passed away from an accident. It was a sudden news, it took all of us by shock... and considering we have just met her a week before the incident, it just didn't seem to make sense.

Yeah... I guess that's what death is, especially when it is so sudden. It doesn't and probably will never make sense.

Like it or not, she is no longer with us and what we can do is to keep the good memories alive, and may she be well & happy wherever she is.

Life is indeed fragile. We'll never know when it is our time. Have we done enough to prepare ourselves when that time comes?

Me, a gangster??

Yesterday at the parking lot of mom's apartment, youngest bro-in-law & I got stopped by 2 policemen in their police car.

Apparently these policemen were doing random check. So we, being at the "right" place at the "right" time, got spotted as we got off my car.

This has never happened to me before, so for a while there I was having fixed emotions from panic to being irritated to anger. We (and my car) practically got body searched, very much like what they do to criminals on TV. Maybe I should be thankful they didn't do strip search & ask us to squat or something.

After that, the policemen filled up some forms as records of the search, reminded my bro-in-law to always bring his passport with him (he is a Singaporean), and left us alone.

Funny how although we know for sure we haven't done anything wrong, there was still a sense of panic. Maybe because the policemen were carrying their guns during the whole process; maybe we were suspicious of their authenticity; or maybe just on whether they would nitpick so that they can get something from us. See la on how confident we are of our police force.

Later in the evening, after conveying the whole incident to my family, another bro-in-law said that perhaps that was a part of the operation to clamp down on gangsterism, something which the government has publicly announced.

Now, now... do I look like a gangster?

Being Thankful

Yesterday while having a chat with my sisters, they brought up about the importance of being thankful for all the good things in life, and a practice of counting 10 of your blessings each day. Yeah, I think this is a really good practice to keep ourselves in a positive state of mind.

Here are the 10 things I am thankful for, in no particular order:

1. I am thankful for my overall good mental & physical health
2. I am thankful for my love ones and their good mental & physical health
3. I am thankful for friends, some whom I may not meet always but stay in my heart
4. I am thankful for having a job that enable me to sustain my lifestyle
5. I am thankful for good bosses & colleagues
6. I am thankful for my home which is in a good condition
7. I am thankful for my safe neighborhood
8. I am thankful for my car which I love soooo much
9. I am thankful for being able to go for vacations now and then
10. I am thankful for having all that I need in life

Act of Sabotage

Last night when we were on our way to Scott's Garden, Old Klang Road, we noticed this eating place with lots of people. So we decided to give it a try.

This eating place is called Ah Wang Bak Kut Teh, and upon tasting the Bak Kut Teh and the Assam Fish Head, we understood why there were so many people there. Yes, the food were really good and tasty.

As we were finishing our meal, suddenly we heard loud noises which sounded like fire cracker or gun shots and people were screaming away! It was a total commotion!

We ran out of the place and saw some people standing at the highway above. Those were the Rela members who chased away some saboteurs who were on the highway earlier to hurl big rocks/bricks onto the zinc restaurant's roof. We heard that this was not the first time, and that sometimes they used faeces.

So in my mind, this act of sabotage must be from a competitor or that the restaurant did not pay "protection money". Sigh...doing business really is not so easy.

Anyway in the commotion, many patrons took advantage to leave without paying. That surely incurred some losses to the restaurant.

As for us, we went back to our table, ordered a refill of bak kut teh soup and finished our meal. And yes, we paid before we left.

Cursed

Don't you get so irritated sometimes when you see these people holding up traffic because they got stuck either at the Touch 'n Go or Smart Tag lanes of the toll booths?

There are many of such incidences at LDP, the highway that I use regularly to and from work. I often cursed these people and thought that they must be morons for not understanding the huge "Touch n Go Only" or "Smart Tag" signs. 

Looking back, I actually posted something about this here, and that was in 2007. From then until now, I must have cursed thousands if not millions of people.

........Today, the table turned.

I was the one who got cursed....probably for 7 generations. 

I got myself stuck at the Smart Tag lane and it was not because I couldn't read the sign. I have a smart tag with me, just that it chose not to work on this fateful day. No, no... it wasn't the battery.

I think I am going to have phobia passing through the Smart Tag lane tomorrow morning. Please do not fail me once again!!... I do not want to be cursed and called a moron again.

evilbay

Goodness gracious. Online shopping coupled with credit cards and PayPal are really a very dangerous cocktail. You can just buy and buy without even thinking about the amount that you spent!

I joined the magnificent world of ebay recently and it's really shopping made super easy. Just key in the keyword of what you are looking for in the Search field and a list with all those matching your keyword is displayed, from local sellers as well as international ones. Some even give you free shipping. How awesome!

You can easily go through the list to compare the prices on which is the best deal. Then just click a few buttons and yay!!... your new purchase is making its way to your embrace. Such a wonderful feeling.... that is until you get your credit card bill.

Ever wonder how they came out with the name for ebay? I think it actually comes from... evilbay!

Eat Pray Love

No, no... this post is not a review of the movie although I must say that it's a really good and inspiring one.

It's like... how nice if I could do that. Just let go of everything and go on a journey to re-discover myself. Unfortunately it's not so easy. Where do you get the money to do that? What happens when your savings run out? See!... I'm not really a risk taker, that's why I have so many of these questions in mind.

So for me, Eat Pray Love seems too impossible, but it inspired me to think of making changes to my life, ...... well maybe small changes. :-)

It's been a while since I have the feeling of moving somewhere and start anew. Then questions such as "Are you too old to be making these changes now?", "What if it doesn't work out?" would start to surface. Again all these questions defeated me.

So will I be in the same place, doing the same things, complaining about the same situations in the next few years time? Hopefully the inspiration I got from this movie is stronger than I thought... and that there will be some good changes to my life soon.

Back stabber

I sometimes wonder about the term "back stabber". If lets say a team member of yours is not doing his/her job and your boss asked you about his/her work performance, would you tell your boss that everything is okay or would you tell the truth? If you told the truth, does that make you a "back stabber"?

I believe each of us need to take responsibility of what we are supposed to do. There shouldn't be a case of one person covering up facts to protect the other if all of us are taking that responsibility.

So before we condemn the "back stabber" to hell, perhaps we should first look at ourselves and analyse on whether what was "stabbed" about us is the truth. If indeed it is, then should we be blaming others for telling the truth?

I understand that a lot of truths spoken are for the purpose of bringing someone down. For those who back stab with those intentions, then to hell with them.

Then again, quoting a chinese saying, if you can sit properly and stand properly, why should you worry about what others say about you, right?

Just because ...

Just because you are capable, does that mean you can go on and on and on like an energizer bunny? Just because you are more experienced, does that mean you know everything? Just because you are more flexible, does that mean you can always bend backwards?

Pretty Ugly

I know when you do a nice thing for someone, you should not ask for anything in return... but I believe every decent human being should have the basic courtesy of saying "Thank you". I unfortunately get to meet 2 human beings that looked very well presented, but without any basic courtesy today.

What happened was I went toSummit Square for gym this afternoon, yeah... I should be rejoicing as going to gym is a very HUGE achievement for me. So after my gym session, I took the lift to B2 to put my bag and shoes into the car, after which I would walk around Summit Square to look for lunch.

After placing my bag and shoes in my car's boot, I headed back to the lift. As I was getting into it, I saw these 2 pretty girls walking from where their car was towards the same lift. They were from some distance away but wanting to be nice, I held the door and waited for them.

They walked in, continued to talk to each other and didn't even acknowledge that I was there, as if I was their freaking door man! I was so pissed. When the lift reached G floor, again I held the door and let them out first. They just walked out, not even looking at me.

I shook my head, went out and proceeded to look for my lunch.

People can be pretty on the outside, but with such bad manners... they are just pieces of shit!

Politics, Politics

I am never a person who is interested in politics, no matter how colorful it is... for instance, like our beloved country's politics scene which is like a long boring soap opera. Unfortunately no matter how I dislike them, I still need to know what's going on so that I can make my decision when it comes to voting time again. Even so, I still feel ashamed and depressed whenever I see how politics are used for one's own gains.

Politics do not just stop there. It is everywhere - at work, among friends and even in families. Perhaps this is how humans are built. Perhaps we are built with this defense mechanism and protectiveness towards our own interests that give us the sense of security. So whether it is to gain something, out of jealousy or merely just to vent our dissatisfaction towards someone or something, politics happen.

Sad thing is, those "innocent" ones without all these interests do get caught up in the politics conjured, and not by their own will.

"Whose side are you on?"

At times it's a no brainer to this question, at times it's really a mind boggling one. For these people, they sometimes ended up as the casualties... you know like the Malay saying "Dua gajah bertembung, pelanduk mati di tengah".

So no matter how uninvolved you want to be, sometimes it's really not your choice. Just have to learn how to protect your own ass so that you don't end up as the "pelanduk".

Politics, politics... you can't live with them, and you can't live without them either.

Know why I became a hermit with a cute dog? Cause between Axel and me, we definitely have no politics. ;-p

Credit Card Cancellation

With the coming government's implementation of RM50 service charge for every credit card next year, I made the necessary steps to cut down from my 4 personal credit cards to 2 today.

First up is my Citibank Visa Clear card. As I have had this card for ages, I managed to accumulate up to 50,000 points. Not wanting to have these points wasted by cancelling the card straightaway, I redeemed it first for a nice looking laptop bag by calling the Customer Service just now. This will just be perfect for my new Dell laptop which I am praying hard that it will reach me soon.



The bag will take around 3 weeks and I will still get enough time to cancel the card by then.

Then there is my Public Bank Master Card which I have applied solely to get the 0% installment plan (Public Bank called it ZIIP) for my first ever PDA phone, the O2 Mini, also many years ago.



That was the one and only time that I have used that card. During that time, the card came with a 8 years annual fees waiver.

I called up Public Bank's customer service to ask how can I go about canceling the card and after what felt like incubating an egg, someone finally answered my call and told me that I can do so by just emailing them at custsvc@publicbank.com.my. That's convenient!

I immediately emailed them and I am pretty sure I will be receiving a call from them soon to ask why I want to cancel my card bla bla bla. I would probably tell them to go ask the government.

So what about you? Keeping all the cards?

10 years grudge

I was just told by a friend on how I offended him 10 years ago with what I have said to him. 10 years!!! Poor thing... he had to carry that grudge for so long!!!

What happened was that 10 years ago we were working in the same company. He was being made fun of by all the other guys in the company for being effeminate. They also made many unkind stories about him.

As he's my friend and I hated how they made him into a joke, I told him about this and asked him not to flirt around with them. I guess perhaps the way I said it to him was harsh and I didn't know that affected him so badly. :-(

Anyhow, he said he's going to forgive and forget about this. I have apologised profusely when he told me just now. I felt so bad that whatever I have said had affected him for 10 years. 10 years!!!!

I am so glad he can now put that behind him and move on.

Being careful when being nice

When I was checking-in at the AirAsia counter in LCCT to go to Singapore yesterday, the counter guy there asked me whether I mind assisting this old Indian lady who's travelling in the same flight as me.

Well, I thought that's not a problem and so I said yes. This Indian lady was with her daughter waiting beside the counter, and she has this hand carry luggage bag with her. Her daughter thanked me and told me that her mother couldn't read, so she needed someone to show her where the terminals were, where to get on and off. I also found out that there would be someone waiting at the arrival hall to get her and that she couldn't converse in english.

So I accompanied this old lady to the immigration, boarding area and into the plane. Throughout this time whenever I spoke to her in Malay, she would just smile and nod. I really had no idea whether she could understand me. Anyway I managed to get her on and off board the plane, and finally getting her to the arms of her son who was waiting at Changi airport, so I must have done a good job. :-)

However during the whole process, I left her with carrying her bag. I helped in situations like carrying it for her up the stairs to the plane, putting it into the storage compartment, taking it out when we arrived and carrying it down from the flight to the terminal.

When we got down from the plane, she just walked ahead of me assuming I would take care of her bag for her. I was thinking she would stop at one juncture to take it back, but she just kept walking following the crowd. I chased after her and told her to take it back, while walking beside her.

Not very "gentleman" I know, but this is a stranger and I had no idea what's in the bag. With all the news about various ways of drug trafficking, I decided better be safe than sorry.

Well turned out she wasn't a drug trafficker as she passed by the custom and got to her son. Anyhow, I still think that although we want to be nice, we have to be careful as well.

Cute Scooter

It has been a while since I rode a bike. I wonder whether it's like riding a bicycle where people would say that once you learned it, you will never forget.

I remember when I first started working in KL, I did not have a car and had to depend on my Yamaha bike to move around. As most of you would know, the roads around KL were/are full of potholes and I tell you, I think I could have died a few times accidently running into them on my bike.

Anyway bikes have evolved so much since then. The bikes now are so cool and cute, not like the traditional boring type that I used to ride.

In my recent trip to Bangkok, I saw this new scooter roadshow by Suzuki at Siam Paragon. The model's name is Jelato and I have to say, it really looked very cute! Kawaii ne!

Where is that uncle?

Usually when I do not have any after work plans, I would just go and pack my dinner at this foodcourt nearby my office. There is this malay chicken rice stall that I frequently patronise, just because I know I wouldn't need to wait so long for the chicken rice to be prepared.

This evening, I went to the same shop but decided to order fried rice with chicken instead. With the buka puasa crowd, I had to wait for a while. So I chose to sit at one of the benches by the side of the chicken rice stall.

As I was looking around at all the people eating there, I suddenly heard the malay lady from the chicken rice stall asking another lady. "Mana uncle itu ah?" (Translation: Where is that uncle?)

I immediately felt my stomach being sucked in and prayed that she was not referring to me. I actually avoided eye contact with her! I am sorry but I really couldn't face it when some strangers start calling me uncle!

I could see her holding this polystyrene meal box and I was like "Sh*t! she is really looking for me!" and decided there and then that I would never again return to this stall.

I saw her eyes scanning around and finally noticing me..... and then continued her search. I was like "Phewwwwww". Not long after, this uncle with a lot of plastic bags came by and took the meal box from the malay lady.

I smiled to myself and knew I need to blog about this. I had almost a similar incident with an economy rice lady not too long ago. I guess when my age is climbing up and my hairline too, you can't blame me for being so sensitive about this.

When it came to my turn, the malay lady called me "boss"... which sounded like music to my ears. I may have tipped her 50 cents for that! ;-p

Restore, Reinvent

A window display at CentralWorld, Bangkok.

Yes, I went to Bangkok again... and like many of our previous trips there, we basically hung out at the shopping complexes for shopping, movies and food. Not forgetting to do some praying and get some relaxing massages too!

I miss my vacation... :-(

Time to restore and reinvent my motivation to work.

Your food sucks!

Recently my colleagues and I went to this Hainanese Restaurant for lunch and found that the food there was rather sucky. We were complaining about it among ourselves and one thing led to another, and we had this hearty discussion on giving feedback when it comes to food.

Although I think this is not very much a Malaysian culture, more restaurants nowadays seek to provide better service for their customers. So at the end of a meal, they would ask the customer on how the food was. Malaysians being Malaysians, I think we tend not to want to offend anyone... so most of us would shyly say "Err..okay lo" although the food tasted like feet.

So back to the discussion I had with my colleagues about this, one of them actually said that once when he was asked this question, he bluntly answered "None of the dishes we ordered tasted nice" and the restaurant owner's face immediately turned black.

Some of us there did not agree with this colleague for being so bluntly honest. "Why would we want to offend people like that?", someone said.

I on the other hand, thought it's a right thing to do. I mean if you can't take negative comments about your food, then you shouldn't pretend and ask your customers for their feedback, right? If you are asking for feedback, then you should take them constructively and find out what's actually wrong with whatever that you served!

So I think as a consumer, we have every right to provide honest feedback when we were asked for it. Perhaps what we need to be careful about are the intentions of these feedbacks and how to "refine" the way we present them.

As I said, I think this is not a very Malaysian type of culture to begin with. Like it or not, people still can't take the fact that their food sucks!

Selling miracles

Health products are so in trend nowadays. There seem to be so many new brands coming to our shore under the ships of MLM.

With the current economic situation, I guess more people are jumping into these ships hoping to get extra pocket money or to take the opportunity to have a business of their own. Although currently I am not into MLM but who knows, right? Desperate times call for desperate measures.

I do have friends or relatives who have gone or are going into this type of business. It can be funny at times cos I always notice very similar traits about them after they got involved.

Firstly every of your conversations with them always tend to evolve into a sales pitch. It's like every topic that you talk about will slowly have a relation to their products be it from talking about your working life, love life, friends, family or whatever.

For an example, someone would say that they are really becoming old cos they are slowly becoming long sighted... and the other person would start to say how their products can reverse the signs of aging; or when someone talked about a friend, and the other person would say how this friend or that friend have used the products and felt or looked so much better than before.

It's as if whatever void you are experiencing in your life is because you did not discover the beauty of their products!

The products also tend to be like miracles. It could be just one single product but it is able to cure all sickness - cancer, diabetes, stroke... just name it. If you have pain in your neck, it will cure that. If you have growth coming out somewhere, it will make it smaller. I am not surprised if some of them are saying how their product can cure H1N1 as well.

It's like the product is a highly intelligent substance that when ingested, would scan your whole body for non functional parts and automatically fix them!

I do agree that all these health products surely have their very own benefits... but the ability to cure all sickness???? I am really very very sceptical about that! If that is true, then I would say that they are not selling a health product... They are selling miracles.

Well perhaps all these are part of the sales strategy. Perhaps one day if I ever join MLM, I would be doing and saying all the same things too. However for the time being, I will just sit back and have a smile thinking back of my encounters with all these miracles sellers.

My Matrix is back!

After what felt like forever, I got my Matrix back today!!


The workshop's claims executive picked me up at my office in Damansara Utama after work and sent me to the workshop in Jalan Ipoh where my repaired car was.

Weird though that I wasn't asked to sign any documents. Come to think of it, I don't have any records whatsoever on the whole thing - I wasn't asked to sign anything when they towed away my car, I was not given a copy of the police report and I wasn't asked to sign any document when I collected my car. Is this normal? Seemed a bit fishy to me though.

Well whatever it is, the cost of repairs is supposed to be claimed from the other party's insurance... so as long as it stays that way, I don't care whether the right processes have been followed or not.

The past few days when I was car'less had been so inconvenient for me. Modes of public transport in Klang Valley are very unreliable. Thank goodness I have kind colleagues and 2 of them (husband & wife) are staying near to my place. So they have been picking me up in the morning and dropping me back after work. I am truly grateful.

Anyway now that I have my car and my "life" back, I will make sure I park my car at more "secure" places i.e. not near to any ramps. Till now, I still couldn't believe that a properly parked car can still run the risk of being knocked.