Merry Christmas 2007
Its that time of year again, there is the smell of Christmas in the air, the radios are all playing Christmas carols and the town in half painted in red, but here I am stuck back in office again! Its also my father's birthday.
Its times like this during the end of they year that you usually do a lot of reflecting on how the year has been, and what a year it has been! A year of many firsts for me personally. First job, first trip abroad, first holiday, first degree and a long long list of other items. There are plenty of things to reflect on, only no time to sit down and blog about! The trip to Penang was quite nice, due more to the good company and food than the actual place, but more on that with some photos later.
In the mean time, I just want to wish you a very happy and blessed Christmas! Its not about reindeers, its not about Christmas trees or getting new stuff and it certainly isnt about some frosty snowman; Its about the ultimate gift of sacrifice that we have received here on earth. Want to find out more? Go to church on Christmas morning. I cant imagine a more important place to be at a more important time in our lives.
Happy holidays! Will be back with more post soon.
Warmest regards
Me!
Holiday in Penang
I'll be going off to Penang for the weekend on a holiday! Yay!
Was going to take the entire week off, but work got back into the way, and its back to office on the 24th for me.. Sigh.. but in any case, the weekend is mine to enjoy!
I hope to be able to go see my mother, but traveling with friends, I'm not sure if its a good idea. Wish me a good journey!
Mom problems again....
Why is it that problems seem to come in waves and waves?
2 months ago, my mother left; went back up north determined to spend the rest of her life there. She found a church that was willing to keep her there. So for 2 months she lived in the church living off the church and her own money. At the same time, I just started out in my first job and my brother quit his. We both pretty much moved out of our rented house and stayed separately; him at his pastors place since it was nearer to church, and me at my girlfriends place since it was nearer to work for me.
For 2 days and nights in a row, my boss, my colleagues and I were up until 3 am, getting ready a multi-million dollar proposal that I was to submit on Thursday all the way in Sarawak. Wednesday was the final push before my flight on Thursday. But on Wednesday afternoon, I received a call from my mother, she said she was taking then next bus down to KL and wanted come visit for a few days. I told her I could not be there to pick her up, and I would not be around. But she got cut off before I could say anything. I called my brother and asked that he handled the matter, but since we had to way of contacting her, we were stuck at waiting. So I continued my work, kept my fingers crossed that something will work out somehow, At 3a.m., after loading 3 large boxes work of documents into my car, I drove hope to catch a few precious hours of sleep before driving to the airport first thing in the morning. I had hoped that my mother did not make the trip after all, but somehow I had a feeling she did. Where was she at the moment?
The next day, after touching down in Bintulu Sarawak, I receive a call from my mother. The area code showed that she was indeed back in the Klang Valley, but she was more interested in reminding me of the RM7.50 I supposedly owed her. I told her I was not there to pick her up. I asked her where she was, but she would not tell me more than to say she was in PJ somewhere. That night, my brother went back to our place looking to see if she was at home. She had the keys to the house, and the natural thing for her to do was to go home, but she was no where to be found. Later my brother called me and told me he found out where she was and will go to her. As it turned out, she was at some park in PJ, sleeping on the streets. She refused to go home with my brother, and insisted on staying in the park. From what he described, she was not her full self again, talking a lot of nonsense and a bit argumentative; a sure sign of her being in a relapse. She was also horribly thin again, as is always the case when she no longer takes medication.
Failing to persuade her to come along, my brother amazingly lets her sleep in the park. And all this while, I am across the south china sea, unable to do anything. The next morning, my girlfriend calls to inform of more problems; my car as well as hers were giving problems again, and needed urgent repairs. There goes a few hundred ringgit again. Her brother borrowed her car and promised to be home by 10pm but came back only at 4am. I called my brother again when I was on the way back, and he updated me on what was happening. She was taking my mother back home to wash up, bath and eat. She lost 2 of her bags sleeping out in the park; no doubt stolen by people. Thank goodness she was not attacked or raped.4 The thought of her sleeping in the dangerous outside in KL frightens me. Its one thing for her to do that in a small town where everyone knows her, buts its totally another to do the same thing in a big city where robbers and bandit cut off your hands for your handbag without the slightest provocation. How can she be so silly? How can she claim to be well what she fails to make sound judgement on matters like this? Of life and limb! From talking to my girlfriend earlier, I knew she would not be receptive to my mother living in her place, especially when she was in such a relapse and hard to handled. But what is there to do?
No one lives in our place and my brother is just squatting at someone else's place. With no other choice before me, I requested to her to let my mother stay, at the very least for the night. I understood her unwillingness to put up with my mother and her relapses, but as her son, there is no way in my good conscience could I go to sleep at night knowing she was out sleeping on the streets again, exposed to the elements and all sorts of dangers. God knows what she has been through these 2 nights. The irony of it all is that it all happened by her own choice. For reasons only known to her, she chose to stay out in the streets rather than to go home safely wit her sons.
As I write this, I am on the train, back to KL. I am in a fix. What am I supposed to feel? Sad? Angry? Worried? Frustrated? Is it possible that I am feeling all of these at the same time? It all seems so familiar in a tiring way. Somehow it fails to surprise me anymore., I no longer get shocked.
Oh ma....... what am I to do about you?
Riches to Rags?
Ever since started working, I have had the chance of meeting many different people from different backgrounds; from small time millionaires to regular folk like me, high flyers to the regular run of the mill guy. eloquent speakers to the linguistically challenged.
The thing that has caught my attention is the fact that more often than not, people seldom are what they seem to be. Take my former colleague for example. When I first joined the company, my first impressions were that this guy was someone capable. The way he dared to order me around and basically be the boss of me gave me the impression that he MUST know what he is talking about for him to dare order me around like that. So I took his orders without that much thought. Now that he is gone, and I have taken over his job, I realise that he was highly incompetent and make countless screw ups! The worst part of it is that it is up to me now to rectify his mistakes to the client. I thought he was in his early 40's what wit the way he carried himself, and the white hair on his head, but I later found out that he was really in his early thirty's only, much too young to be carrying the 'Managers' title he insisted on having when he first joined. I suppose now that I have taken over his tasks and job scope, I too should start demanding the 'manager's title. But then again, I hardly think I am ready for such a big title at such a young age, plus, its not what you are called that really matters anyway, its what you contribute. Anyway, privately, I still like to think of myself as 'a really expensive office boy'. It sounds so much more fun.
But the one person that really caught my eye and won my respect was a quiet and ordinary looking man by the common name of Mr. Tan. At first glance, you would not think much of him. He looked just like your ordinary 'uncle' who visits the kopitiam every morning. He dresses in typical uncle cloths and uses an age mobile phone. He eats regular food from the nearby shops and he drives a regular car (no merc, no BMW). Not in your wildest dreams would you imagine that Mr. Tan is in fact a millionaire many times over. He owns a Civil Construction company of his own and does businesses work millions of ringgit and travels around the world on a regular basis. And yet I detect no air about him. No acting as if he could just buy his way into everything. He doesn't wear fancy designer watches, thousand ringgit shirts or use a Vertu mobile phone. In fact, he uses a model that is 5 years old. Compare that to my new colleague; 27 years old, drawing an almost equivalent salary with me, but drives a nice Japanese car, wears stylish trendy cloths, a fancy watch and a mobile phone the price of 'only' a full months salary. He has all the trappings of wealth, but no real money to boot.
It forces me to conclude that many of the people, especially of the younger age are more interested in the things money can buy them more than anything else. It puzzles me; how DO you afford such an expensive phone anyway? Being able to come out with the cash is not the same as being able to afford it. They drive fancy cars, wear fancy cloths, but before the middle of the month they are broke and out of cash. Is that what you call living the lifestyle? Its all just a front, an illusion of success and having made it in life. They become more concerned by how others perceive them rather than what they really are. That is the problem with my generation; how we think of ourselves relies so much on how others perceive us. It is a flaw in thinking that I think is only too common these days.
If you ask me, we should all take a lesson from Mr. Tan. Haven't we all seen or heard of stories of old ' apek' wearing japanese thongs and shorts who walk into the bank only to dig out of their pockets tens of thousands of ringgit?
