It’s gonna be a LOOOOOOOOONG three weeks
Dear Felicity,
This next few weeks will be tough for me…
a) My friends and bro are leaving. Kib and Silas are returning to KL this weekend. KK and Grace, my childhood church friends are migrating to Australia for study. I say migrate because I’m pretty sure they plan to stay there. So once again, I am stuck alone *sob sob* with only Mel as my support system and everyone else as the one I have to be there for. *sigh*
b) I’m working seven days a week now thanks to the registration “rush” (though there doesn’t seem to be any at this time) and I hoped to take a break when it’s all over on the 14th but now it turns out I have to wait for the 21st to relax because of an audit at my workplace.
c) Getting more responsibilities and learning to juggle them. And because I drop the ball a few times, I sometimes get a lecture that could perm my hair into a ‘fro.
So now excuse me while I lock myself in a cubicle in the men’s room for a brief period.
*walks* *shuts door* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*comes out, combs ruffled hair, puts on best smile and leaves*
P.S. Am praying for a few people to get healed - Raqib (who’s been on my list, like, forever, along with mom), Manesha (a bright spot of sunshine in the office who’s on maternity leave and facing complications in the ICU, poor girl) and Cecilia Dahl (a cancer patient I’ll hopefully be giving blood to this Saturday)
Gee… This is new~
Gee, Felicity,
I’ve never had to work with a runny nose before. This is a new experience. Maybe next time, I’ll even be able to greet walk-ins with a nasal voice i.e. Fran Fine. Should I puff up my hair and get all flamboyant?
*sniffle*~~
The Poison Spreads
Things might be coming to a head. The split that has been ongoing underneath the surface for this past year has seen ruptures on the skin like pus oozing out of broken pimples.
I was struck by an SMS from one of the nicest guys who I never thought would say what he said. It’s like Santa Claus giving the US President an scathing letter saying that the Easter Bunny is a bad mascot for Easter because of his promiscuity. Whether he has a point or not is not so much the point, the point is:
- I have no jurisdiction regarding who plays and who doesn’t
- What the guy said does not build anyone up, just wants to get the fella out of there
I passed it on to the relevant people and just last night, one of our leaders had a long talk with Pastor Joshua about who should be in and out.
Whether there be turbulence around the corner or not, we’re headed for interesting times. Abba Father, stay on top of things and make sure the right actions are taken for the good of the people!!!
It was the best of days, it was the worst of days….
Yesterday was a mixed day of highs and lows:
Lows
- Just heard my Vietnamese grandmother passed away. Okay, so she’s not my biological grandma but she was like one to me. She’s the Vietnamese Pastor in my previous church in KL, River Of Life, and ministered to foreign workers together with her husband. When I was still looking for a living in KL, she would invite me to church to join the ladies for some Vietnamese beef noodles. She was always a bubbly fount of joy and now she’s gone to be with the Lord.
- Have you ever tried to work in an enclosed office when renovation is going on? Believe me, after 15 minutes, you feel like wrenching the nail gun from their hands and using it on them. Having to endure it for 3 1/2 hours was excruciating agony. If I didn’t have music on the headphones, I swear I would have either gone violent or insane.
Highs
- I got commended by my boss for my efforts at work after only three weeks. I hope I can keep meeting her expectations and more.
- I managed to borrow the camera to take pictures of my little baby. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Aspen.
A future candidate for KWE, Kittens Wrestling Entertainment (their own).
So that’s life for me right now. More updates later. 
Globalization And Being Malaysian
Had a walk-in enquiry on campus yesterday evening with Mr. Steve Koh, a manager with Dell, and he made an interesting comment about how everything in business management has to be seen from a global perspective as well as local perspective, about the importance of blending into another culture before you can manage the people of that culture. If more people knew about that, we’d be better off.
Also, he mentioned that the reason why Malaysians and Singaporeans do better than other Asian countries right now is partially due to our multiracial environment. Because we have a few dominant cultures in our country, we have learned to adapt very fast to different languages and ways of life to accommodate our neighbors and friends. Interesting thought…
The Little Things (It’s been a while, eh…?)
Hey, Felicity!
It’s been ages since my last post, eh? Anyway, quick update:
a) I’m working at Wawasan Open University as a customer service assistant. That means I deal with enquiries with the occasional writing job as that is my talent. I currently also manage the email marketing campaign and co-supervise some of the advertising.
b) I’m a single father. Can’t watch over her all the time because of work so I keep her in a cage outside meanwhile…
Take a deep breath people. She’s a kitten.
c) My real reason for writing this post. The inspiration came from just walking out this morning and meeting the cleaning lady. This cleaning lady is a mamak that looks like your typical aged witch with that hook nose, frazzled curly hair and pointed chin but she is a wonderful lady.
I met her today just outside the dustbins near my house and she was still dressed in a tudung, and baju kurung before work and when I asked her what she was doing there, she smiled and said (I’m translating here): “Spotcheck, what else? Gotta keep this place clean or people will slip or step in something they don’t want.” She started commenting on the bags left by the side that didn’t make it into the bin and how some people are insensitive.
I left for work today contemplative. It’s been 8 years since I’ve lived in Marina Bay and that lady, after so many years, still relishes her job even though it’s filled with little things and not challenging conquests like some careers we admire. May I be as faithful in my work, if it ever gets this menial to me…
My Colorgenics Profile
Got it off Phil’s blog at http://www.paulgoldin.com/colorgenics.htm. Here’s what it says:
You have a vivid imagination and this is good. Great inventors, explorers all had inventive, imaginative minds. Your friends and acquaintances may consider you over-imaginative and given to fantasy or day-dreaming. So what ? this is a part of your character and charm.
You are a leader and possibly at this tine in a position of authority, but you are experiencing problems. You are not quite sure how to handle the present situation.
You are a rather inhibited sort of person. This could be the result of your upbringing or of your schooling, whatever. You are able to obtain satisfaction from various forms of physical or emotional activity but all in all you are inclined to be emotionally withdrawn. As a consequence of this you find it difficult to sustain any deep involvement.
You are being unduly influenced by the situation that is all around you. You do not like the feeling of loneliness and whatever it is that seems to separate you from others. You know that life can be wonderful and you are anxious to experience life in all its aspects, to live it to the full. You therefore resent any restriction or limitations that are being imposed on you and you insist on going it alone.
You are anxious about all the limitations to which you are subjected to at this time. You feel that you are not valued for what or who you are. You need OUT. So why procrastinate any longer - MOVE!
What do you think, people?
The Brave One I & II
Brave One I
Things are picking up in my career. At least to me. I’m gaining confidence in approaching doctors and getting over the deep insecurities and fears that nag at my brain and hamper my progress. Little victories like being able to chat doctors up or locate their clinics in unfamiliar areas like BM has really helped me along. I processed an order personally on Friday too! Here’s hoping things continue to get better. Thanks, Pat-Chan, for your well wishes.
The Brave One II
This other entry is to talk about the latest movie starring Jodie Foster. Me and my movie buff of a friend Christopher went to watch it last night not knowing what it’s about or what to expect. All I knew was the rating (18PL) and the fact that it was number 1 on the box office this week.
The Brave One is a story about Erica Bains, a woman who is a victim of brutal assault by some thugs. She loses her fiance and almost everything else. Three weeks later, she recovers, a broken and scared woman. Buying a gun to protect herself, she finds herself using it more than she needs to.
Enter Inspector Mercer, a man who is put in charge of an investigation of serial murders supposedly done by a vigilante out for justice, who becomes close friends with Erica through an interview.
What happens next? I won’t spoil it for you.
As a movie, it was done very well. The acting, the music, the witty dramatic script (too many f-words, but hey, I’m conservative and this is staged in NYC), the angles, brilliantly executed. Love the drama and the juxtapositions.
What it did to my soul? That’s another story. Watching Erica’s journey and transformation just made me sad. Watching what the world and circumstances did to her and how she responded cut through me like a knife, particularly because I can think of one or two people who, in similar circumstances, might go that way.
That added to reading up on the murder of a little girl in KL gets me thinking. How did we deteriorate so bad? I mean, I know that humanity isn’t exactly wholesome but to think that there are people who could spiral down such a path, to have their footing rended from then in an instant, falling into an abyss that a stranger they now know as themselves is digging….
I wish there was some way for it all to end, for everyone see just what’s really happening to us, for God to actually be allowed to intervene and not let darkness pervade the doors of our hearts anymore. But that’s what happens when we have free will and decide that our view is what matters. I’m all for discovering things for ourselves but I wish more people would discover and seek rather than deny and lock themselves in. I’m ranting here.
I just pray that more people would care before Malaysia becomes like our “advanced” brethren, so postmodernistic that people can have the right to hurt themselves, so caught up with the petty arguments of rights and wrongs that we miss the real wrongs that exists in the streets, where the self will and mind reign so much that nothing else matters, and then wonder why we walk alone.
Numbers and Visits
When the managers told me that I have a lot of ground to cover, I had no idea how much ground was needed…. until last Friday.
There was a sales meeting going on last Friday and I realized how much ground needed to be covered when I saw the figures and listened to the managers crunch the numbers.
I’m thankful that things haven’t dropped dramatically but there is sure a substantial amount of catching up to do.
So that’s what I did today. I went out, determined to do the best I could. The morning was pleasant with me meeting two doctors, one old lady who was very nice and accomodating and a young man who I personally know already. Other than that, it was uneventful…
Hope things pick up.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad
I’m currently reading a book in this series called Rich Dad’s Guide to Financial Freedom. While I’m learning lots, I or rather Kib noticed one thing. Why do we pay for books to tell us things that common sense can tell us if we bothered to seek that info out. I mean, I’m reading this book and going WOW at the financial revelations I’m getting but then I think back and wonder: If I bothered, wouldn’t I have picked this up? I mean, stuff like:
a) Don’t hope your income alone is enough. Get assets so you have some income coming in for you even if you don’t work.
b) Don’t be fooled by all those credit card schemes and fantastic tax breaks that come with home loans. Chances are you’ll end up losing rather than gaining money so why waste your cash on something that will drain rather than boost your finances?
This isn’t the only book or article that’s popular that deals with common sense stuff. Purpose-driven life, for example. Or experiencing God. Or even that blog on writing screenplays called wordplayers.com started by the dynamic duo that wrote the Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy. Are we indeed so dense that we have to be taught these things rather than have it thought out ourselves? Gee, in that case, if I get a myriad of personal revelations, maybe I should right my own self-help book. I might make millions!!
I’m not belittling the human race. I’m just wondering if because of so much useless trivia we have to learn in schools (Like how relevant is learning the exports of Madagascar to me unless I’m in international finance?) has got us focused on learning the wrong things in life and missing the relevant stuff that matter more. Stuff about God, about us as human beings, about living skills, thinking skills, interaction skills, money management. Why aren’t the more relevant stuff taught? Hmmm…….
