farfromhome: April 2009

I'm pretty sure that some people might be thinking einstein or hawkings, newton or some evil genius from a cartoon who always has some evil plan to take over the world, which never materialises anyway! Hehehe...I was just reading a blog sent to me by someone over the "torturous" life of being overworked and underpaid and worse of all, no minimum salary nonsense. well, imagine working like hell and only getting paid RM2.50, some companies PROUDLY display RM3.50 per hour, like as if all the hours can total up to RM3.5 k per month! Even if someone were to work 10 hours a day, which equals to only RM35 per day, and 7 days a week, which only totals RM 245 and works 4 weeks permonth which comes up to a grand total of (drum rolls).........RM 980. am i right? cos this certainly doesnt sound right at all. 10 hours a day for 7 days a week and 4 weeks per month only equals to that amount of money? ok, 'best' case scenario. what if the poor guy works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 4 weeks per month, which is a total impossibility, which also equals to working oneself to death. let's see, le grande total comes up to a sum of RM2 352 per month! that's the amount one needs to 'give his/her life for the company'! ok, i have managed to kill more brain cells by doing that! hehehe. but do you remember in malaysia, those coffee shops, with those old uncles or aunties who 'bancuh' the coffee behind the scenes? and the waiter will shout out, "kopi o see kao peng jia mai liao, coca cola O tarik kosong, koon chui o mai liao, seng kak teh mai seng kak..." and somehow, somewhat the drinks will (almost) 100% of the time come exactly as u have ordered it! now instead, when we go to the mamaks, as much as u ask for kurang manis, well you know the rest la! gosh i miss the mamaks and the kopitiams. i remember once going to mamak in sban, and someone ordered milo, EXCEL. and ta daaaaaaaaa, a really large glass of MILO came, XL sized!

i wasnt always the best when it came to maths, in fact i had hated it so much. people always tell me that sometimes the things a person says can affect you for life. well in some ways, i still remember back when i was 12. it was sometime during the UPSR pre examination period, whereby we had a math exam. and i was somehow, somewhat in the first class, where all the smart people were la. so being in the smart classs, ur expected to like get 99, 98, 100 marks for ur exams. and i remember, this teacher of mine, he said out so damn loud, 'the person with the worst maths in class is, ...you know who'. Hahahah. gosh that scarred me for life seriously. till today, sometimes i still have these dreams that tmrw, i'm having a maths exam, and i've not studied at all! and i try to 'read' and 'understand' the maths formula and it all seems so real! i also remember once when i was working in the hotel. and one of the managers scolded me, 'Kamu ni bodoh ke?' and i was like, excuse me? i think i'm more highly educated that u are...but of cos i didn't say that out! so from then onwards, i always try to teach my students, never to think that they're stupid or bodoh, cos no one actually is, and it is so humiliating to be scolded bodoh. and also, as much as u know and think that the person is not gonna make it, sometimes u never know that the 1% hope that u give them, will actually change the way they look at things! well, as bad as my maths is and as bodoh as i am, i am now doing my phd in melbourne university, attached to USM. so i guess i've done pretty OK after all!

well, it's been an awful, awful long time since i've updated this. well life has been hectic these few months, but over the past few days i've been reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaly slacking off. dunno la, the brain feels so tired and worn out, feels like as if i'm running out of brain cells as well! hehehe. but so far everything has been really really good. CNY came and went, and now we're in the season of lent, waiting for easter to come, then easter will come and go. oh! exciting stuff to happen in the next few months. i will be presenting a paper in Monash U in 2 weeks time and also another of my papers has been accepted for a conference in Bali. but the only prob is, i've not really written much for these conferences. OK la, ppl will say, cheh conference only ma, what's so exciting?! actually i also dunno what's so exciting bout it! maybe it's just nice to be able to visit Monash and Bali?! Hehehe.

right, i will be headed for my confirmation meeting soon as well...oh tensionnyer! but audrey keep saying, don't worry, you're doing well, don't worry, you will do fine. OK, i shall listen to her words! well, to a certain extent, life has been pretty good so far. the social life has been picking up well. thanks to COSDU whereby i always feel so welcomed! it is a catholic association, but then again, it's not all about praying. it's also about meeting other people, getting to develop bonds and friendships, sharing other people's problems and others helping carry yours. well, of course there are the more 'serious' postgrad societies and conferences and seminars. but i dunno, those just seem pretty serious and we only meet every now and then. to quote a friend, 'prosperity is full of friends', it is so true. sometimes i guess we just need to take a step back and appreciate all that we have, all that we know. these few months i like using the words, somehow, someone, sometime, somewhere, somewhat will....all in one sentence. hehehe. oh dear oh dear oh dear. that's another one i like using these few weeks, all thanks for ROY from the IT Crowd! Hehehe. Be happy la! I keep thinking of these words from Pearl Jam's song Alive, although it has a somewhat diverted meaning, but then...

I, I’m still alive
Hey i, but, I’m still alive
Hey i, boy, I’m still alive
Hey i, i, i, I’m still alive, yeah
Ooh yeah...yeah yeah yeah...oh...oh...

Now isn't that something to shout about?! one day when i was in church, and as i was praying and looked at the crucifix behind the alter, something struck me. and as i looked at jesus there, it struck me that no other god will so much humble himself to take all the pain and humiliation and suffering that he had gone thru. no other will actually go to the extent of such public humiliation and torture, and then for what? for all of us. so somewhat from then on i guess i start to look at things more positively in life, and also to appreciate my religion and faith and also god more than ever! oh well, in all, i'll like to share a verse from the bible i read the other day. well, it's not that i'm super holy or anything, just that it really did touch me and i believe that this applies for anyone, regardless of whatever faith they carry!

Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1-2

"Faith. To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see."

So the pics below are from the night market, i'll just upload the pics i have with my face inside la. one was from the pasar malam in uni i went to with leah, and the others were from the picnic i attended with my friends from cosdu. the rest will be on facebook la! anyways, they were both fun! makan makan makan! aiyah please excuse me wearing the beanie la, it was supposed to be a min of 12 degrees, but then it was so hot some more. i know, the face looks big!!! hahaha

oh yeah, today is the day we wind back our clocks cos of daylight savings. when i woke up, i was like, oh well, time for mass, but it was only 9am actually. then i turned on my laptop and saw, eh how come spoilt one? then i realised, oh daylight saving. hehehe. so in the end i managed to go for the earlier mass, which was all good in the end! well, to all, have a blessed holy week and happy easter!