Our life intersected on an island we embarked,
Both fresh aboard, ready to explore,
The mystical force that knots us so snug,
Perhaps a good start to the fantasy of many
Surging with allure, in weeks we acquaint,
The odyssey continues, intensely we impress and inspire,
Fumbles we endured, with foolish acts beyond rationale,
A revelation of our heart, so vulnerable and tender
Time was an impediment to the epilogue of the encounter,
The seed we could not cultivate, past a healthy sprout,
For premature wings cannot soar the heavens,
Our fairy tale must perish to an endeavor far superior
Savoring the precious to the last droplet,
A romance that failed to continue in existence,
A treasured legacy and bittersweet memory,
Will forever be carved in this chapter of ours ...
Friday, May 26, 2006
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
My World Crumbles...
I imagine my life like a flicker of light,
That sways in accordance to the swing of my fancy,
Where nothing is definite or lined out perfectly,
That seeks no perfection, just always laced with hope,
Laced with memories, sweet and bitter..
When finally that flicker of hope dies like a fire..
My world crumbles like a pile of Jenga,
Bricks of hope that were so strong now just like debris,
And the memories are now just meaningless ashes..
And hope is just a mere dream in a brink of nightmare.
Someone once said first 20 years were the best years..
Then the rest are meant for suffering..
And if so, what's the point of living..
When all you have to look forward to is eternal wrath..
Just to be
Sometimes we just forget to be grateful. To be grateful for our family, our friends, our health, oursurroundings, our earth. Even just plain gratitude for life, for just being alive or for just being.
If you realise that this is the final week of your life, what would you do? What would be the first thing that comes to your mind? People. Not your Monaco home nor your 911 Turbo nor that plasma but the PEOPLE whom you have shared your life with. You will miss being with your family, your friends, your loved ones. Why is that? Maybe because life is really just a bundle of experiences. Experience that you share with another being. Maybe because an object may not be able to make you feel the same way a person can. Maybe because the happiest moments in your life involves people. Maybe your best moment is the day when your dad finally says 'I'm proud of you', or when a friend says 'I enjoy being with you', or when a lover says 'I can't live without you'. Words of assurance is what one can't live without. A simple 'I'm glad you're here' from a friend just makes it all worthwhile isn't it?
Life is really just time if you think about it. When you spend time with a friend, you are both sharing out a portion of your lives. You have traded a portion of your life for the experience, be it happy or sad. This experience is carved in you forever, the time is lost forever. It becomes part of you because you are what you experience in life. I guess at the end of the day, you collect these little chapters of life and make a conclusion of whether you've traded your life away wisely. Whether you like it or not, the trading goes on ...
Live life with no regrets.
If you realise that this is the final week of your life, what would you do? What would be the first thing that comes to your mind? People. Not your Monaco home nor your 911 Turbo nor that plasma but the PEOPLE whom you have shared your life with. You will miss being with your family, your friends, your loved ones. Why is that? Maybe because life is really just a bundle of experiences. Experience that you share with another being. Maybe because an object may not be able to make you feel the same way a person can. Maybe because the happiest moments in your life involves people. Maybe your best moment is the day when your dad finally says 'I'm proud of you', or when a friend says 'I enjoy being with you', or when a lover says 'I can't live without you'. Words of assurance is what one can't live without. A simple 'I'm glad you're here' from a friend just makes it all worthwhile isn't it?
Life is really just time if you think about it. When you spend time with a friend, you are both sharing out a portion of your lives. You have traded a portion of your life for the experience, be it happy or sad. This experience is carved in you forever, the time is lost forever. It becomes part of you because you are what you experience in life. I guess at the end of the day, you collect these little chapters of life and make a conclusion of whether you've traded your life away wisely. Whether you like it or not, the trading goes on ...
Live life with no regrets.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Customer Service
Some of the things that irks me:-
1. When appetizers and dessert come at the same time as your main entrée. Happens a lot when you order set meals. Hello? What’s the rush? Yar, I know you can just take your time and just eat it in order, appetizer, main entrée and then your dessert. But what if your dessert was icecream? Or some icy thingy? What do you do? And what about meals who come before the drinks? HAHHAHA. Makes you wonder where these people come from.
2. When yours and your date’s main entrées don’t come at more or less the same time. This really infuriates me. How would they like it if they had to stare at someone eat or having someone to stare at you eat! I rather they just keep the food warm in the kitchen and wait for the other person’s food to be ready. SERVE them together! PLEASE!
3. Salespeople come knocking at your office door. You tell them that you’re not interested but they still want your name card or better yet, your manager’s, or when you tell them your boss is not around; and they tell you, NO.. I can see him, although really, that person could be the office boy, or when they want a formal co. ‘chop’ to say that they’ve been to your office. Generally, I’m nice coz I’ve done sales before but those who are rude, they better be prepared to face my wrath. I know these people are just eek-ing out a living, but not interested means no name cards, no nothing, OK?
4. When they send an experienced person, unguided, to sell their products. This happened to me when I was looking for a home loan. The salesperson was barely a month into the job. The poor guy. How can his boss send him, out in the wild, with no one to guide him? He couldn’t answer even the most basic of questions. Heck, he didn’t even understand the concept of BLR! And how does this reflect on the bank that he is working for? Very badly, I’d say. I know the drill about a newbie has to start somewhere, but I’m sure there are better ways than that. Imagine how demotivated he could get.
5. When you’re asked to fax something over. And mind you, I’m the customer. Shouldn’t the person at least give me a ring to let me know that they did receive the fax? With emails, yes, you can ask for an acknowledgement receipt, but you can’t do that for faxes, unless the other person faxes something back to you. Just a simple courtesy call, that’s all.
I don’t mean to insult the many working people in the service industry. This is by no means, a generalization of what the service industry is about. Just the few instances in which I’ve encountered. I’ve also met some very good salespersons, whom may have been the reason why I may sometimes expect to have the same professionalism from other salespersons.
So.. what are your top peeves?
1. When appetizers and dessert come at the same time as your main entrée. Happens a lot when you order set meals. Hello? What’s the rush? Yar, I know you can just take your time and just eat it in order, appetizer, main entrée and then your dessert. But what if your dessert was icecream? Or some icy thingy? What do you do? And what about meals who come before the drinks? HAHHAHA. Makes you wonder where these people come from.
2. When yours and your date’s main entrées don’t come at more or less the same time. This really infuriates me. How would they like it if they had to stare at someone eat or having someone to stare at you eat! I rather they just keep the food warm in the kitchen and wait for the other person’s food to be ready. SERVE them together! PLEASE!
3. Salespeople come knocking at your office door. You tell them that you’re not interested but they still want your name card or better yet, your manager’s, or when you tell them your boss is not around; and they tell you, NO.. I can see him, although really, that person could be the office boy, or when they want a formal co. ‘chop’ to say that they’ve been to your office. Generally, I’m nice coz I’ve done sales before but those who are rude, they better be prepared to face my wrath. I know these people are just eek-ing out a living, but not interested means no name cards, no nothing, OK?
4. When they send an experienced person, unguided, to sell their products. This happened to me when I was looking for a home loan. The salesperson was barely a month into the job. The poor guy. How can his boss send him, out in the wild, with no one to guide him? He couldn’t answer even the most basic of questions. Heck, he didn’t even understand the concept of BLR! And how does this reflect on the bank that he is working for? Very badly, I’d say. I know the drill about a newbie has to start somewhere, but I’m sure there are better ways than that. Imagine how demotivated he could get.
5. When you’re asked to fax something over. And mind you, I’m the customer. Shouldn’t the person at least give me a ring to let me know that they did receive the fax? With emails, yes, you can ask for an acknowledgement receipt, but you can’t do that for faxes, unless the other person faxes something back to you. Just a simple courtesy call, that’s all.
I don’t mean to insult the many working people in the service industry. This is by no means, a generalization of what the service industry is about. Just the few instances in which I’ve encountered. I’ve also met some very good salespersons, whom may have been the reason why I may sometimes expect to have the same professionalism from other salespersons.
So.. what are your top peeves?
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Human Labels
If i had a factory to label human beings ....this is a list of Labels
1) The Wannabes- ever seen an Asian guy trying to pass off as a black rapper guy, wearing bling bling stuff, with baggy pants and oversized basketball jerseys over a t-shirt?
2) The Career-goers- ambitious and goal-orientated. They've got like a 3 year plan, 5 year plan, 10 year plan...all laid out with careful scheming and financial planning.
3) The Fuck-n-Gos- my fren came up with this term. He's not into commitment and prefers a no-expectations kind of relationships. A one night stander, who leaves right after a good/bad session, hence the name.
4) The DKDCs- Don't know, don't care ones...people who don't give a care in the world who just really can't be bothered with politics, office politics, family politics. People who just mind their own business and that's how the world should be.
5) Stay-At-Homes- The type that is contented doing their own stuff at home. A fren was telling me that she sometimes prefer to just stay at home, spend some good alone time, indulging in what she likes to do, be it surfing the net, writing, blogging, cooking....i think once in a while, its good to be a Stay-At-Home..you sometimes accomplish more spiritually.
6) Gotta-Go-Outs- And then there are just those who can't stay at home! Need to be somewhere all the time. WEll...these people are sometimes crazy travellers..wanna see the world and experience n learn other cultures..And there are those who just craves for self enrichment by seeing more out of the house. These type eventually evolve into Party-Goers, Food-Lovers, etc etc..
7) The Complainers- Complains just about anything in the world...or what my sister would call a Grouch. And she's right, these people would lose their friends coz nobody likes a constant Grouch..i mean..grouch when you have to, not grouch coz that's all u can do.
8) The WH4s and WL4s- Hehe..term commonly used among the Chinese...The type that would instantly ditch their family, their friends, a cool party, their work, their boss!!, their principles, their studies ...all for the love of their bfs and gfs...
9) The Entertainers- Or what i would call a Badut...people who are humourous effortlessly...people who make u laugh..people who organize outings and entertain with zest..WE seriously need more baduts in our lives..keeps u ALIVE.
WEll...i think..we once in a while fall into these labels..sometimes all at once...your compass needle moves from one to another..ultimately u wanna have the compass right at where you truly belong...requires some soulsearching i guess...but it's all in making your pathway less bleak..
Kill Me Please!
Have u had moments when you wish God would just kill you instantly? Where you just wanna tear yourself apart and be non-existent? I've had moments like that when:
1) i'm faced with an idiot who smiles and laughs at anything i say. Its just not polite..Its just pure idiotic and it makes an idiot out of me!
2) when the older genre ppl try to convince me to bend their ways coz they think they're more experience- i wanna tell them that being older doesnt make them any wiser.......
3) when 20 somethings rant about stress and being overloaded with work. There's really no value added to tell me this. I won't give a damn. I don't really care. I dont really want to know. You work, you get paid, that's all there is to it.
4) talking to customer service personnel. Be it Maxis, Celcom, HSBC, Hong Leong, government service- just get on my nerves. Especially when they go "you cakap melayu boleh ar?"
5) I'm taking an exam.. I never ever wanna do a 3-hour paper again.Just thinking about the next 3 hours is just pure agony.
6) Doing my income tax. I swear if i ever get rich, i'm gonna hire someone to do this for me.
TEll me what's yours.
1) i'm faced with an idiot who smiles and laughs at anything i say. Its just not polite..Its just pure idiotic and it makes an idiot out of me!
2) when the older genre ppl try to convince me to bend their ways coz they think they're more experience- i wanna tell them that being older doesnt make them any wiser.......
3) when 20 somethings rant about stress and being overloaded with work. There's really no value added to tell me this. I won't give a damn. I don't really care. I dont really want to know. You work, you get paid, that's all there is to it.
4) talking to customer service personnel. Be it Maxis, Celcom, HSBC, Hong Leong, government service- just get on my nerves. Especially when they go "you cakap melayu boleh ar?"
5) I'm taking an exam.. I never ever wanna do a 3-hour paper again.Just thinking about the next 3 hours is just pure agony.
6) Doing my income tax. I swear if i ever get rich, i'm gonna hire someone to do this for me.
TEll me what's yours.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
COMMUNICATION?
Have you ever felt so pissed off with your friends who use business language when they talk to you? Like when you tell your friend that petrol prices has gone up and she goes, “Thanks, noted.” Sure, she said thanks but why did she have to say, “Noted”? You almost feel like you’re bothering her, and that she had absolutely no need for such information. What about some friends who tell you that they had roti canai “this am” or I’d be able to make it for drinks “this pm”. Or please let me know if we are meeting up by COB today? Please let me know what are the plans for her birthday ASAP? Good gosh! I feel like I’m talking to clients and that we’re making some important business transaction when actually it’s just supposed to be a friendly conversation, between FRIENDS.
Have you ever had friends (I would say this happens a lot when I’m with girl-friends), they say something to you, but you know they are not actually listening to what you have to say in return. You know this when their eyes stray behind or to the other person next to you, just about anywhere but you. At first, I wonder if maybe she just lost track, and I would repeat my comment. But then you realize, that it’s not true because she’d continue her story, making no link to the comment I had previously made. Hummph! I had foolishly thought that when somebody says something, they want to know what you think, your VALUED remarks. Having ‘listened’ to your remarks, they’d say something back, to relate to your comment, either for or against. I just need to know, why these people bother telling somebody something when you don’t want to listen hard to his/her comment? It was perplexing at first, but I soon realize that some people just like to hear themselves speak. They speak and expect no comments from you. Even if what they say is actually a question.
Have you ever had friends pose questions, or make remarks to fish compliments out of you, or so that they can boast about their achievements? Example? Like when someone says “Oh no, I forgot to send in my Travel Form”. Instinctively, you’d ask “Oh where are you going?”, wouldn’t you? And she or he will begin telling you that they’re going somewhere ‘fantastic’ and that it’s an all-expense paid trip. Or when someone asks you if you had noticed that property prices are so attractive now, and you’d ask whether they were planning to purchase something, when actually they already have and were just asking that question so that they would have an opening to begin telling you of their decorating plans?
Have you ever had to sit through a conversation, in which you didn’t understand a word of? No offence to the millions of Chinese-Mandarin speakers, but I really hate it when people start speaking in Mandarin when they well know that I don’t speak it. I know the whole bloody drill about how I am Chinese and that I am such a shame to my fellow wonderful Chinese friends for not knowing how to speak Mandarin. But let me ask you this, how is making me furious because of ‘your’ lack of social grace is going to somehow motivate me into learning Mandarin? It doesn’t, ok? Let me assure you that it doesn’t, AT ALL. I don’t mean just the language Mandarin. It could be an Indian having lunch with his/her Chinese colleagues.
Have you ever had friends (I would say this happens a lot when I’m with girl-friends), they say something to you, but you know they are not actually listening to what you have to say in return. You know this when their eyes stray behind or to the other person next to you, just about anywhere but you. At first, I wonder if maybe she just lost track, and I would repeat my comment. But then you realize, that it’s not true because she’d continue her story, making no link to the comment I had previously made. Hummph! I had foolishly thought that when somebody says something, they want to know what you think, your VALUED remarks. Having ‘listened’ to your remarks, they’d say something back, to relate to your comment, either for or against. I just need to know, why these people bother telling somebody something when you don’t want to listen hard to his/her comment? It was perplexing at first, but I soon realize that some people just like to hear themselves speak. They speak and expect no comments from you. Even if what they say is actually a question.
Have you ever had friends pose questions, or make remarks to fish compliments out of you, or so that they can boast about their achievements? Example? Like when someone says “Oh no, I forgot to send in my Travel Form”. Instinctively, you’d ask “Oh where are you going?”, wouldn’t you? And she or he will begin telling you that they’re going somewhere ‘fantastic’ and that it’s an all-expense paid trip. Or when someone asks you if you had noticed that property prices are so attractive now, and you’d ask whether they were planning to purchase something, when actually they already have and were just asking that question so that they would have an opening to begin telling you of their decorating plans?
Have you ever had to sit through a conversation, in which you didn’t understand a word of? No offence to the millions of Chinese-Mandarin speakers, but I really hate it when people start speaking in Mandarin when they well know that I don’t speak it. I know the whole bloody drill about how I am Chinese and that I am such a shame to my fellow wonderful Chinese friends for not knowing how to speak Mandarin. But let me ask you this, how is making me furious because of ‘your’ lack of social grace is going to somehow motivate me into learning Mandarin? It doesn’t, ok? Let me assure you that it doesn’t, AT ALL. I don’t mean just the language Mandarin. It could be an Indian having lunch with his/her Chinese colleagues.
The fake counter .... (the sequel)
Guess what! I found a sequel to my previous post from The Star frontpage on Labor Day. The IRB is not sending out tax forms next year, everyone's required to use e-Filing next year due to OVERWHELMING REQUESTS ... dejavu? :)
I just wanted to highlight a few 'brilliant ideas' from the IRB that made my day:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Response from taxpayers has been very good although this is the first year e-Filing has been introduced. As at 6.30pm today, about 100,000 taxpayers have filed their returns electronically,” he told The Star yesterday. “Our target for e-Filing this year was only 50,000 submissions but we have already doubled this number.”
“This year, our strategy is to get taxpayers to switch to e-Filing and the good response speaks volumes about Malaysians being IT savvy,” he added.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The department of statistics states that our population is 26.13 million in 2005. Our dear IRB expected 0.19% of the population to e-file but the response was a whopping 0.38% of the population !! So guess what happened, yup our beloved hoo-hah began. Apparently we are now sophisticated 'IT savvies'. Therefore they need to work on yet another world-class project. How? Lets switch everything to e-filing to accomodate our 'highly advanced' society. Sorry Mr Fisherman and Mr Farmer, guess what, you'll have to get your Windows XP going.
I sincerely hope that in 2020, we will be declared a developed country NOT just because we have ONE developed street. There are no shortcuts to it whether you like it or not. To have a well-developed country, we need well-developed towns. To have well-developed towns, we need well-developed streets. To have well-developed streets, we need well-developed buildings. To have well-developed buildings, we need well-developed bricks. Lets not build our country on hollow bricks and tumble with a delicate tap.
I just wanted to highlight a few 'brilliant ideas' from the IRB that made my day:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Response from taxpayers has been very good although this is the first year e-Filing has been introduced. As at 6.30pm today, about 100,000 taxpayers have filed their returns electronically,” he told The Star yesterday. “Our target for e-Filing this year was only 50,000 submissions but we have already doubled this number.”
“This year, our strategy is to get taxpayers to switch to e-Filing and the good response speaks volumes about Malaysians being IT savvy,” he added.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The department of statistics states that our population is 26.13 million in 2005. Our dear IRB expected 0.19% of the population to e-file but the response was a whopping 0.38% of the population !! So guess what happened, yup our beloved hoo-hah began. Apparently we are now sophisticated 'IT savvies'. Therefore they need to work on yet another world-class project. How? Lets switch everything to e-filing to accomodate our 'highly advanced' society. Sorry Mr Fisherman and Mr Farmer, guess what, you'll have to get your Windows XP going.
I sincerely hope that in 2020, we will be declared a developed country NOT just because we have ONE developed street. There are no shortcuts to it whether you like it or not. To have a well-developed country, we need well-developed towns. To have well-developed towns, we need well-developed streets. To have well-developed streets, we need well-developed buildings. To have well-developed buildings, we need well-developed bricks. Lets not build our country on hollow bricks and tumble with a delicate tap.
Getting Out of the Rat Race????
I read in the book the Millionaire Times! (by Sifu See) about how to save ur first million and one of the methods recommended was to get out of the rat race. But look around you and you’ll see most people are already in the rat race! Its gonna take real determination and resistance to get out of it.
It’s no longer about having a digicam but to have the best one in the market. It’s no longer about having a chance to travel overseas but how many countries you’ve been to. It’s no longer about having a higher education but how many Master’s Degrees u have. It’s no longer about whether you have bought a house to stay but how many properties have u invested in. It’s no longer about having a mobile phone but having the latest PDA phone. It’s no longer about having an automobile to get u from A to B but who’ll have the first BMW. And the list goes on and on.
Call it peer pressure but I feel it’s somewhat a motivator. How many of you have gawked at a Merc Kompressor and wonder how the owner ever got the money to get that kind of car? (Especially if the owner is some young chiku probably younger than you?) And you wonder when you’ll ever get that kind of money. Well, every success story begins with a dream. As the saying goes, its better to dream than to never at all. The key is to Dare to Dream. The best thing is that there is no limits to how big you can dream, so dream BIG!
Last week I attended this course called 8D analysis and our consultant was this big shot ISO consultant who’s been in this consultancy business for years. One of those sleepy session, in an effort to wake us up I suppose, he told us the story of how he started as an ISO consultant. Just like any of us, he started of as an Executive in most unfortunate chinaman type of company, if you know what I mean. And you know, chinamen are always into making profits and would not waste time on something like ISO. No value added mar. But this guy, he knew ISO was gonna be in demand. So he started small. He was a chemist and so he implemented ISO in his small but modest laboratory. Soon, he had his SOP, training system, checklist in place in his small setup. Seeing it was the most organized dept in the company, the chinaman soon began taking the customer’s to visit the little dept hoping to make a good impression. In no time, the little executive was making a name and was later asked to setup the ISO system in the company. This is a story of how sheer determination can get you somewhere as long as u dare to dream.
But ultimately, the whole purpose of the damn exercise was not only to gain job satisfaction but I’m sure in his mind, he wanted to join the rat race. Make loads of money and to buy that Merc he always wanted with no qualms about his finances. I can’t find a single person who does not love money. Who wouldn’t want to go on a Europe tour without having to stinge on food and accommodation? I find myself wondering if that is actually so wrong? To be materialistic but by your own means and not having to con anyone (in any ways imaginable) I think is a motivator. I believe a certain degree of materialism is a catalyst to a dream of making your first million after all. So..Mr “Sifu” See, I beg to differ.
It’s no longer about having a digicam but to have the best one in the market. It’s no longer about having a chance to travel overseas but how many countries you’ve been to. It’s no longer about having a higher education but how many Master’s Degrees u have. It’s no longer about whether you have bought a house to stay but how many properties have u invested in. It’s no longer about having a mobile phone but having the latest PDA phone. It’s no longer about having an automobile to get u from A to B but who’ll have the first BMW. And the list goes on and on.
Call it peer pressure but I feel it’s somewhat a motivator. How many of you have gawked at a Merc Kompressor and wonder how the owner ever got the money to get that kind of car? (Especially if the owner is some young chiku probably younger than you?) And you wonder when you’ll ever get that kind of money. Well, every success story begins with a dream. As the saying goes, its better to dream than to never at all. The key is to Dare to Dream. The best thing is that there is no limits to how big you can dream, so dream BIG!
Last week I attended this course called 8D analysis and our consultant was this big shot ISO consultant who’s been in this consultancy business for years. One of those sleepy session, in an effort to wake us up I suppose, he told us the story of how he started as an ISO consultant. Just like any of us, he started of as an Executive in most unfortunate chinaman type of company, if you know what I mean. And you know, chinamen are always into making profits and would not waste time on something like ISO. No value added mar. But this guy, he knew ISO was gonna be in demand. So he started small. He was a chemist and so he implemented ISO in his small but modest laboratory. Soon, he had his SOP, training system, checklist in place in his small setup. Seeing it was the most organized dept in the company, the chinaman soon began taking the customer’s to visit the little dept hoping to make a good impression. In no time, the little executive was making a name and was later asked to setup the ISO system in the company. This is a story of how sheer determination can get you somewhere as long as u dare to dream.
But ultimately, the whole purpose of the damn exercise was not only to gain job satisfaction but I’m sure in his mind, he wanted to join the rat race. Make loads of money and to buy that Merc he always wanted with no qualms about his finances. I can’t find a single person who does not love money. Who wouldn’t want to go on a Europe tour without having to stinge on food and accommodation? I find myself wondering if that is actually so wrong? To be materialistic but by your own means and not having to con anyone (in any ways imaginable) I think is a motivator. I believe a certain degree of materialism is a catalyst to a dream of making your first million after all. So..Mr “Sifu” See, I beg to differ.
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