On The Rock

Celebrated Poh Y’ng’s birthday at the new Jaya Jusco. There’s not much photo of her here. But somebody else like to be in the limelight instead…

Happy Birthday!

Purchasing

Everybody need to buy stuff. People buy stuff that they want or that they need. No matter what people still do buy things. Things that can be very temporary like food or snacks, or things that can be very long lasting like a house or guitar. Ahaks. But of course buying long lasting stuff takes some time for consideration, thought through, research and so on. So far this is what I’ll do when I plan to buy something that can last a considerable period of time. I’ll take up a long time before I buy it. Even after much study and research about the thing that I want to buy, plus my budgeting, I’ll still take my time. If it’s meant for me, then it will be mine and nobody else’s. If it’s not meant for me, somebody else will buy it. Finally, the last thing before I buy something, I make sure that I feel at ease. Sense of peace? Check.

But the problem that sometimes I face is this. After going through all the check list before I make a purchase, when the item is in my hands, I sometimes regret a little bit. Solution? Don’t think anymore about it after you make a purchase!

Edge Of Desire

The title of this post is just the name of the song that I’m listening to right now while blogging this post.

Young and full of running…

Tell me where that has taken me…

Just a great figure eight or tiny infinity?

Have you ever wanted to be somewhere or do something but you’re not there yet? Or maybe you’re just not sure when you’ll be there. I think almost everybody have been there. Or maybe only less optimistic people face this? Honestly, I’m not the kind of person who goes all out saying “everything is possible for me”, or “I can make everything possible”, or “I can do everything in the face of challenge”, or “the impossible is achievable” (ok, this one sounds cool) with the confidence that everything will turn out well and good. In the light of “everything is possible”, reality has a place in that same possibility too. Ignoring reality itself might end up one doing the math all wrong.

Well, I’m not despising those who always see the bright side of things. Neither am I trying to give some pity to those who are stuck somewhere below. I mean if you really want to see the bright side things, then see the bright side of even those who’re at the bottom of the pyramid. Not that in seeing the “bright side” of them at your own advantage. But rather something that we can learn from them.

Sometimes we just got to weigh things and do some regular check-ups on ourselves.

Chao!

When Events Clash…

One more day left and it’s Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day. I can’t recall if there was ever a Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day that falls on the same day. This is very rare. What a red event indeed. I think it is going to be hard for couples to celebrate Valentine’s Day if they are going back to their hometown for Chinese New Year. As usual I can’t expect lots of ang pow money. What more during these hard times. And also I can’t expect any chocolates. Ahaks!

Happy Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day.

Crafting

A few weeks back I was extremely bored and I felt like a fat pig (just an expression of words) spending a lot of time in front of my laptop. I went out doing some stuff with an old golok (machete) and somehow it dawned upon me to do something. Blade smiting. Yes, which means I have to learn a lot about woodcraft, metallurgy, metal smiting, chemistry and so on. Within in a few days I had data overload in my brain. Thus, I decided to work it out.

Since I have a few goloks that needed some repair and even “cloths” (sheath), I decided to start it off with woodwork. For my first sheath, I think it’s not bad. I’ll try to put in a lot of effort and some time after coming back from work even when I’m dead tired. Normally I would only have 2-3 hours to work on it before it’s dark at night. On weekends, I’ll work on it full day. It takes a lot for me to work it out. I’ll have to do a lot of thinking, planning, and solving problems when I’m sleeping at night. Sometimes I even dream about it. Then I’ll work on it the following day, with everything in my head. Yes, sometimes working on this takes a lot of my energy. Sometimes my Dad will ask me, “Who’s paying you overtime for this?” or sometimes he gives me a hint “If you can do this, then all the blade smiths around here with be dying of hunger” sarcastically. Well, it’s not my intention to “starve” anybody to death for that matter. But I did managed to pull it off although it wasn’t perfect. Although it is not as nice as what other professionals can do, it’s still special to me. Because I made it myself. Hehe…

I’m having a few other projects coming on the way. I’m buying a few more tools and a homemade furnace is on the way. I think this is going to be next hobby. (A hobby that I think very few people of my generation would share) As far as my experience on wood crafting is concern, all I can say is that one would need a lot of patience and care to work on something small, tiny and detail. This is what I’ve learned. When I try to work fast, I realised that I make lots of mistake and end up damaging or splitting up my wood. Patience is something that nobody can just learn it, but going through it only will one understand it.

“Let patience be your teacher, and let practice be your textbook”

Then I understood what it also meant “fearfully and wonderfully made” from Psalms. God created us with so much care to make sure that what He has made is wonderful. Even when we see how imperfect, ugly and defected we could be, there is more than what the eyes could see because God knows how special we are in each and everyone of us.

Psalms 139:13-17

AIM: Day 05

Ok, it’s the final post for AIM. “Am I Mad”? This is the fifth time posting on the same theme for 5 days straight!

Today was quite relaxing. Knowing that I had to go to KLIA to fetch my Dad, I called it as half-day work. As usual, I had to run some errands, take up calls, argue with customers in debt and all that stuff. Over in the morning I had some time for myself to work on some wood craft. Once it’s some over in the afternoon, me and my Mom head off to KLIA for my Dad. There was a horrible traffic jam due to major road accident in the highway leaving a few dead. I won’t be surprised that this will come out in tomorrow’s news. Reached home late for dinner by then.

Despite the cut down on communication (due to the country’s system) with my Dad during these 5 days on my own, I realise that I didn’t have so much trouble communicating with my customers as what I had before. Yes, quite a number of my customers converse in Hokkien with my Dad. Not that I converse with them in Hokkien this time but simply that they didn’t speak a single word of Hokkien although they address me as my Dad. It’s good if I can pick up a few Hokkien words. I got to learn it from James Bond…

It ain’t so bad after all.

AIM: Day 04

Lately I’ve noticed that the weather has been very hot. I was in Teluk Mas and it was scorching. It was much hotter than what the photo shows. If there is any changes in the weather, I guess people who work in the field like me will be the first one to feel it. We’re the ones who will take count of how many days it has been without rain within a week. We’re the ones who will see that what we plant is having a hard time to grow than what it normally should. We’re the ones who will realise how fast for us to get tired working in the field. We’re the ones who will realise why heat-proof people like us can get sunburn. All that tells us one thing, it’s the season of El Niño (or if you want to say, Global Warming). This dry season takes place during the first half of the year.

It is during these times, we have to work harder as jobs are not getting any easier for us. When it’s getting drier, all the more we need to get working. When your lecturer (with all due respect and no intention to degrade them. You just gotta love them) tells you that business are affected by the factors of PEST (namely Political, Economical, Social and Technological; although some backward people think that Political has got nothing to do with their business), it’s bullshit for my case. In my scenario, all those factors counts including one more- Environmental or Eco-Environment if you think it’s cooler. Well, not so cool these days. So it should be PEEST (pronounced as ‘piss’). Yeah, it makes people piss-off when all those PEEST (pronounce it the right way again) factor keeps on PEEST-ing on them. Wow, that’s one hell of a PEEST-ing fact.

Yes, this is AIM. Another Idiotic Moment.

PEEST-off. (Nah, joking..)

AIM: Day 03

Right up at 8.30 in the morning, the container had arrived. 8 tonnes of goods in all. Unloading them surely makes my back sore and my arms numb. Luckily with 4 guys, it’s not so bad as it is.

Over in the afternoon, I had to make some deliveries to Shah Alam. Took a slow drive. Had a lot of ponderings and reflections of the things that were in my head lately, despite the radio still playing on. Yea, or else I’ll bore my worker to death. And also I heard an interesting topic about arranged marriage or bridal agency in the radio discussion. Strange that yesterday this topic came up when I was chatting with somebody else.

Some other products were delayed by the factory due to tight schedule. Which means that I’m affected as well. Some of my customers are consuming the seeds so fast. I wonder if they make bean porridge out of it.

I can’t write much for tonight. Some idiot grown up neighbour is playing fire crackers alone outside his house with my dog barking every time it explodes. I’m having headaches and I’m going to bed.

Chao.

AIM: Day 02

AIM is not “Anugerah Industri Musik”, it’s “Alone In Mission”.

Today, there is not much of work as I’m running out of goods. But yet, I still find it quite challenging. I have to deal with a lot of phone calls. Surprisingly there is no one who talked to me in Hokkien or Mandarin as what I have experienced before. Some thought that I am my Dad. So I’ll just pretend to be my Dad if I know what’s going on. But if I have no idea what in the world is he talking about, then I just tell them that my Dad is not around. Ahaks. Some of the things my Dad didn’t inform me. So it’s better to play safe as I didn’t want there to be a conflicting information.

This is always the case. Some people will trust my Dad more or will hold whatever he said to them as the ultimatum. Just like how the US currency is backed on confidence instead of gold. Some even feared him. But when it comes to me, people want to see the gold first. This is always the case when it comes to project. Any other than project, I don’t face such problems. It takes a lot of hard work, time to spend, no shortcuts and so on in order for people to build that trust. For this reason, time and time again I’ve seen “work smart, not hard” had been total crap. You can’t buy trust in that way, not even once.

You can’t buy trust with money.

AIM: Day 01

AIM stands for “Alone In Mission”…

Woke up this morning as my first day of working this week. I woke up to the call of my Dad’s phone ringing. Some customer called up regarding the JKR’s request on certificate and about some project in Bukit Ibam, Pahang. What a nice way to wake up. Had a few more phone calls before I bring my family out for breakfast. Some requested me to hold off their cheque as they can’t pay up their debt. Sometimes,these people need to get their head knocked once in a while.

I had to run errands like every morning, it takes up the whole morning. Planning route to the bank, warehouse, makan place for breakfast and so on just to make sure I didn’t waste so much time.

Found this photo taken by my Dad in his handphone. I think we were on our way to Tampoi, Johor…

Today I had to make some deliveries to Lukut, Negeri Sembilan in the afternoon. My store is getting emptied. The factory couldn’t make the production in time. Over in the evening I went to meet some Indonesian workers to buy from them empty pails for the next batch of production. The arrival of the shipment from Australia has yet to be confirmed. And customers are placing more orders. This is some sort of a dilemma. When there is no business, people start to complain. When there is too much business until there is a huge shortage, people start to complain too. So it makes sense to say that His “blessings will come and overtake you”. But people often forget the other bargain of their responsibility and honour. I’m starting to get sick of the whole overly done “prosperous”, “wealth” and “get rich” materialistic nonsensical crap of Chinese New Year (despite of the government sweeping the economic problem under the carpet) these days. People tend to seek the gift instead of the Giver.

We’ll see what’s next for tomorrow.

Malachi 3:10, Deuteronomy 28:2