越帮越忙

"我很烦。someone called me and i got distracted. I thought of not picking up but i couldn't bring myself to do that! tell me what should i do???!!!!"

"the next time he calls just tell him you are preparing for exams. tell him you will contact him when the exam is over." i said, sounded so convinving i was amazed by myself.

"you are in the same situation too. 你做得到吗？" she asked.

"做不到！" i answered right away and all the courage she has mustered disappeared at that moment.

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sometimes we should not give advice when we are not capable of putting it into practice ourselves. 越帮越忙 indeed.

The silly mum

Back from the trip to Ipoh and Penang. A point to mark the end of the long weekend.

I love long weekends. Not because I am lazy to work but it kinda pulls me out of the lack-of-work-inflicted boredom in the office. Blog-hopping or facebooking the whole day isn't really an effective way to spend your time.

I have been thinking and comtemplating alot lately. Not that I don't the rest of the time. The fact that my mum doesn't know how to pamper herself kinda upsets me. She doesn't travel, she doesn't shop, she doesn't go for spa or facial. The most she does is buying skincare products and some healthcare supplements.

She has been through alot. She shouldered up financial responsibility when my dad went through financial crisis and it lasted for a few years. Not only did she not complain, she didn't even tell us how difficult life was and never limited us on our expenses. Whatever necessities, no matter how expensive they were, she tried her best to afford and get us equipped.

She is by far the toughest character I have met.

I remember asking her the worst question a son could ever ask.

"why didn't you leave dad and go for a better life? a more stable life perhaps?" and trust me, my dad didn't have the best qualities to be a husband when I asked that question.

"If I haven't given birth to you guys I would have done that. I stayed because of you kids not your dad. I believed in my ability to bring you guys up single-handedly but I don't think single-parenting is a healthy way to bring up a kid. that's why I stayed." She told me.

It tore me up.

Patience is the key. She kept telling me that since I was a kid. How much patience is patient? I am yet to find out.

Even till now, she doesn't know how to pamper herself. When told, she would counter back by saying how much money she spends on skincare and stuff but in fact thats not more than 1k per year.

"why don't you spend and treat yourself better? you wanna save all the money for me is it?" I said jokingly.

"You wish. But it'll pass down to you guys eventually." She said.

To be honest, that's not something I would like to hear from her.

"I will help you make an appointment to get you some botox. The skincare products aren't as effective anyway" I said, smiling at her.

"that I don't mind. make sure it's of best quality." She said, sounded like my sister.

"and btw, I get 30% of your salary next time." she said jokingly.

"not that you know how to spend it. they will all come back to me in the end. hahaha" I said, but hoping inside that she will spend it all.

The high expense of a low incomer

No more taipei, we are going south instead to Bali. No more nice food and hot spring, but we get the sandy white beach instead. It's still a vaccation, only with a cheaper price to pay.

That's life. You gain something from what you lose. Who says the compensation is not gonna be as nice?

I have had enough of city life. Pollution, heavy traffic, sauna-like weather, distrations that prompt you to spend more and yadda yadda yadda. Well maybe the last bit is not soley to blame. It's a result of my weakening willpower and self control. Who spend rm100 on dinner a day with just a rm1000 income each month anyway? lol.

2 months into the working life with 1 more month to go, I realised working isn't as bad as we thought. At least you get the money and exposure. What I didn't see it coming is how suffocating a cubicle can be, and how stressful it is to have nothing to work on but just counting down to 5pm everyday. The desire to go offshore is growing each day.Good on me.

I love my colleagues nevertheless. They are fun. They are playful. More importantly, they are corrupted, brain wise. It's just comforting how simple their choice of words is. Simple yet funny. Isn't that great? I seriously need to cut down on my use of sarcasm. The worst part is, I don't even realise I am being sarcastic most of the the time. Talking about detaching oneself from sarcasm. It's proven to be harder than weening off the drugs.

Back to expenses. Watching 2 movies a week, eating out 5 days a week, driving around as if the car is air-operated seriously got me thinking how much I would have to earn in the future in order to sustain myself. lol. Not to mention getting a 6 thousand watch.

My faith wiggles a little. How I tell my mum I can't live poor and hence the choice of profession just got me wonder if it's really sufficient. hahaha. You know desire and greed never stop growing.

So much of introspection.

I am still going to Bali anyway. lol. Spend all your money before 2012. You wouldnt wanna see your money going down the drain would you?

5 things I wanna do right now

I am bored!!!!!!!!! It's not difficult to notice from my frequent updates. Once every two days? Ok it's quite a record for lazy people like me who selectively forgot the password to my blog. My point is, the fact that I blog so frequently lately really tells you what office job is like. So people, stay away from it as much as possible.

Stuck in the office doing repititive work with some free time slipped in between reading "The Sun", "The Star" and countless food blogs, my subconscious mind started to make a list of things that both my physical and mental mind want to do.

1. A massage. I mean a proper massage! don't you pick on my words! Ok maybe a passioanate massage isn't as bad as I ( or everyone else?) thought. *slap slap*

2. Kissing my pillow. As much as I am an insomaniac, I would like to kiss my pillow 24/7. Too bad it's too big to bring into the office and it might just outsize my cubicle. lol.

3. Go to Genting. FOR THE CHILLY WEATHER NOT THE CASINO! Wait why am I trying to so hard to explain here? lol. But KL is just way too hot for me. :(

4. Sitting in front of the tv and watch all I want with bottomless strawberry and blueberry within reach.

5. Walking to the pantry and stop by the cubicle in front of it and say "hi I am Shane. Would you like to go on a date with me?". lolllllllllllllllll.

Taipei and the pink gloves

Office job is suffocating. It's made even worse when your job is reptitive. CTRL-c and CTRL-v from 8am-5pm bore the shit outta me. Ok maybe it's not that bad with me making multiple visits to the pantry. *wink wink*

I was on the phone with my mum just to tell her that I am going to Taiwan during CNY.

"hey ma, I am going to taiwan in Feb" I said and tried not to go into too much details.

"When? and whom with?" She asked. Ok as a matter of fact, she has been a bit too concerned over whom I go out with lately.

"with my friends. on the 18th of feb tentatively" I said.

"who? how many of you are going?" She asked again.

"alright alright....bla bla bla" I gave in.

"You pay for your own flight?" I sensed the firmness in her tone hinting she isn't kind enough to pay for my flight.

"yeah!" Reluctantly, I said. Alright alright I am desperate. I am sure I can talk her into paying a portion of it afterwards. Evil me. Worse comes to worse I will advance early payment for my pocket money. lol.

Taiwan here I come!

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Overheard a kid talking today and it cracked me up, even till now.

"Did you see my gloves? they are pink and shaped like my hands."

Aren't kids just cute with their innocent talk?

On the phone with the nephew

So my mum called me when I was at lunch. Definitely took me by surprise as she usually takes her nap during that time. I picked up the phone with a thousand questions in my head.

"hello" I greeted.

"hey hold on!" my mum said even before I could say anything.

After a few seconds, someone apparently picked up the phone and spoke through the mouthpiece.

I couldn't hear anything. It could be due to the poor coverage so I begged his/her pardon.

"hello" I said again, feeling much puzzled.

"ehh ahhahh ehhhh yiii ahhh hahahahahahaha" that's all I could hear. Judging from the crystal clear voice I know it's Bryvan, my two-year-old nephew.

And also the inability to speak a proper word. lol.

"hey hey bryvan!!!!!" Sounding all excited, I was waiting to be surprised.

"ah! yi yayayay ooo ka!" Apparently I couldnt understand a word he said. I laughed so hard at the baby language I swear everyone around me must have thought I am a psycho.

"where are you?" I asked and realised a second later that I would never get an answer. Yet still looking forward to hearing what he had to say.

"aa, yiiii yaaaaaa!" He replied which I deciphered as tangkak.

Whatever.

I found out much later from my mum that he still couldn't say papa mama.

Are you kidding me? he is 2 years old already.

Well who am I to judge anyway? Someone who only started saying words that made sense at the age of 2.5 whose parents were so worried they asked the doctor if he was a mute. hahaha.

Who would ever have thought that he is so babbly 20 years later!

It's only after I hung up I realised how much I have missed him. Just listened to him made my day. Even though nothing he said make sense.

Kids bring happiness.

Can I bring him with me to Sydney? I promise I will get him breastfed.lol. Or I will just get him a goat.

Multitask

Driving in KL is a nightmare. Especially when you choose the wrong time to go on the road.

7.20am: The brake is just an accessory.

7.25am: You have at least some people to check out, but only limit to 1 second each person to stay off accident.

7.30am: Blame the snooze function on my alarm clock. If you think 5 mins is a luxury in bed, it is a horrendous nightmare on the road. It is jam-packed with cars where you can practically eat fruits, read a novel and check out the driver in each passing car (can say hi somemore).

As a result, I am late for work. It has been the 4th times in a row. *shy*

Being stuck in the jam is stressfull. My way of dealing with this is by eating fruits. :P. De-stress on one side, keeping fit and healthy is a tempting bonus.