Gen Y?

I read with somewhat disgust this article: GenY The Star , about GenY. It's nice to hear from a Gen Y perspective and I have an opinion as to why they are like that, quite contrary to what the article says.

Trying to get the restaurant's kitchen to open up just to cook for you brats? That's just plain inconsiderate. And perhaps because the brat that you are, you probably have not worked in a restaurant before where although you think that you've worked hard and deserve a decent meal at a restaurant, those people who work in the restaurants also worked the whole day only to wait for the 10pm last call so they too can call it a day and have their decent meals? Being the inconsiderate lot that those brats are, of course that never crossed their minds! only me, me, me.

"Gen X was a time where education was a rare privilege, a job was a blessing and praises were hard to come by.
My comrades and I were raised to believe in ourselves, to strive for the best and to fight for what we believe in. Perhaps that makes us a little over-confident and too vocal in voicing our desires and displeasures."
Quite the contrary to what this article says about GenX, I do believe GenX in fact believe in themselves more because of our struggle and our plight. That's because we struggled to get where we are. GenY make think that they are over-confident and too vocal, but really empty vessels make the most noise! And it doesn't take long for people to realize that.

"If we feel that we’re performing well, we would rather like appreciation to be shown sooner rather than later."
This is only applicable if you actually perform well. And really you cannot force someone to appreciate your work, because though you think you have performed well, you may not have performed exceptionally well or others could have done better. So really it's not a real recognition unless people collectively tells you so. More often that not, I find them complaining before getting any work done. Don't even talk about performance yet.

"The world is changing to adapt to Gen Y because we are the future, but no one is going to tolerate or find excuses for a spoiled brat. The question is this: If you were the boss, would you employ yourself?"
I must say this is the best part. I dont think however the world is changing to adapt to Gen Y but rather to cater for different genres, as you are aware, there are more generations after GenY, be it the Millenials etc. With raising the retirement age from 55 to 60 in private sectors, there is a further need to be more flexible.

Living with others

Sharing a space with anyone is no easy feat, be it your siblings, your parents, your in laws, your friends or your boyfriend / husband. There are those things like who gets the remote control, who does the washing, who gets to do the laundry first, who pays the bill, who takes out the trash..., and those are the easy stuff because those things you can sort it out with a schedule or a mutual understanding. Living with other people also means you need to be TOLERANT. You need to be sensitive with your words especially with elderly people because sometimes things get misinterpreted. You Ned to be sensitive to other people's religion and daily rituals. Especially toilet rituals. Especially if u only have 1 toilet. Believe me, I have had a history of living with people who spend a lot of time at the loo.

The hardest part is to stay sensitive to others all the time. Home is a place where u unwind, take off your bra literally, be free but it's hard when you have others living with you. There used to be a time when I just wanna stay in my room all day because in there, that is MY space. If you have a roommate well then that is a different story! Sometimes you will have to pretend he/she is not there especially if she is someone you cant get along with!

What are your tips to living with others?

Mom

My mom is the most amazing mom. I have always thought of writing about her but really I don't know where to begin. She is an icon of strength, thoughtfulness, zen, love,bravery, chivalry , everything. I really pale in comparison to my mom. She is courageous, at 65 she is the ringleader at most of the places that we have stayed at: Ipoh, ara damansara, Taman desa, , Singapore. She has a knack for making friends because of her don't-be-a-stuckup attitude. Whenever she makes a trip back to Ipoh she will buy car load of taugeh and heongpeng to distribute them to the neighborhood. I used to find it a real bother but then I realize it takes a lot of thought and generosity that I guess I could never measure up to.

Andrew once sAid to me that I should get cooking lessons dorm my mom so that the legacy doesn't end. My mom cooks up a storm everyday! She has a way of being creative so she would throw in a few surprises every now and then. On the table you will not only find my dad and mine and my sister's favorite dish but also andrew's and my bil's. It can be quite a feat, add on my nephew's and doing that every day. But she bulldozes on with enthusiasm and drive. She does all the marketing alone because we would just slow her down, and even a cousin of my bil saw her once at the market and applauded her powerful arms! Yeah, we are a bunch of lame ninnys compared to her.

Perhaps it was her upbringing. Slaughtering chickens at the age of 10 and taking care of my uncle when she was still a kid. She told me she took my uncle to register for school when she was 9 or 10. And would cycle to deliver his lunch to him. I dunno if it's a hainanese thing or not, but my mom really takes care other family, her cousins and etc etc. My mom keeps close to her cousins till today, often the one driving them to seremban, Melaka etc on a day trip. Right now, my mom is in Singapore because and uncle was diagnosed with cancer and she is helping out my aunt cooking and doing banking for him. Shen she arrives this morning ( 5 hours bus ride, mind you) she is off gallivanting
with a cousin and meeting some friends for lunch. Sometimes even hearing her programme for the day is exhausting. Here is a woman who went to Ipoh, then to betong Thailand to the communist camp for a dinner and stayed overnight before heading back to kl the next day.

Just last week was the tangling festival and my mom just by word of mouth and her pulling the crowd around ara damansara, organized one of the biggest one I have ever attended. She got a few old aunties to commit to bringing their grandchildren and food so the night was set and we saw about 100+ people turned up for the event. My sister's neighbor told me that they thought it would be cancelled because it was raining and the plan was to have it at the two big badminton court at the playground, but lo and behold, she caught my mom sweeping the water off the badminton court with a steady broom alone not wanting the kids to slip and also for the candles to stick on the floor. Amazing right. I justhada potluck at work in which it took me few weeks to get people to buying food whilst my mom only took 1 weekend to organize one. Haha!

The way I described my mom you probably think she is must be just other auntie. But she was also a teacher. Her methods are quite unorthodox so I grew up with troubled cousins being sent to my mom for training. Yeah a cousin of mine was sent from Sri petaling all, the way to Ipoh for a good 4 years to whip him to shape. And never once did she whack him although I certainly instigated it haha! Me and my twin were sent to the church, cathedism classes, temple etc, wanting us to get exposure to different religion. When I was about 4 yrs old, my house had 10 people ; an Indian man who was my dad's former student, and 2 children of my mom's friend from teluk intan, and the 6 of us plus my grandma. U can imagine how chaotic life was. To date the Indian man always tells me my mom is his half -sister. In a way she probably thought us about sharing and racism in a very surreal way.

My niece and nephew are very attached to her. Her devotion and because of the flurry of activities that my mom always carry with her, the kids I would say have a great childhood, always surrounded by friends and doing a mix of traditional activities and modern ones that my sisters would provide. They are both free spirits as my mom tend to let them be not wanting to suppress them.

I hope I can be half as good as her.

Bad meals

I seriously get really pissed off with so called food bloggers who for the sake of free meals give good reviews for bad food. It is irresponsible and lack of integrity. I dunno, I take pride in what I write about and what my opinions are in anything , especially if you are gonna blog about it. And so, I am going to start dedicating space to write about bad meals introduced by food bloggers. Although some are really subjective to one's taste bud, there are really some that are so outright bad that no way a person could ever stomach. Here are some to begin with.

1) Betty Midwest Kitchen Aman Suria- honestly it tasted like scraps of leftovers that I used to prepare during my UNI days.
2) Coffee Chemistry Giza Mall - this was seriously mediocre and really not worth mentioning of.
3) Full House anywhere- seriously the food is so mediocre and taste like microwaved food that it really does not deserve a mention at all. Somehow bloggers seem to really love to publicize it.
4) Wong Kok - gross and overrated. Bad coffee and tea.

The list goes on. Want to knowwho r the bad bloggers, google these places and find out who thinks these are great food!

Where are your manners arh?

It's a whole week of organizing events, somehow got caught into it and well you know the part u gotta wait for people to RSVP, sending reminders etc etc. So there is a potluck I am organizing for my dept, and you have to make sure people don't bring the same stuff and make sure there is enough dessert, kuih, and the heavy works. Despite sending reminders and asking for confirmation on the type of food to bring...it's already tues and the event is coming Monday, way way past the deadline already which was 2 weeks ago. It wouldn't bother me so much if boss wasn't asking me for the list of food, attendance confirmation etc. People don't realize I don't do this full time ok. I still got 'real' work to do. They disrespect deadlines and expect me to chase them. You know on outlook people can accept, decline, and out on tentative their attendance? At one point I wrote to all the attendees who hv not confirmed and put on tentative that they can only accept or decline. no more tentative!

And then there is this other event. It's an annual meeting I am helping to organize and we have to get the suppliers to confirm participants and provide parking registration as well. People just do not READ! It says 2 participants per company and people happily give me 3 names. Or they don't give you the parking registration info. Or if they reply, they rudely just give you the car plate number. Not even the Hi or a Thanks.

I think it's just simple manners to give timely decision and doing it politely at the same time. I can't wait for their turn to organize something then they would understand how annoying they can be!