Cold Night

It wasn’t my highest priority and not even close to the top 5 priority list this year but I couldn’t ignore the fact that it is a convenience…

After careful thinking...I finally made up my mind...pushed the others to the bottom and brought this matter into real action…I’ve been sleeping with door opened for a few nights…I woke up sweating almost every day…at some point I had to sleep in the leaving room…I just couldn’t stand the heat anymore…

I am now able to enjoy cold night sleep with my new Panasonic air conditioner...it felt great although I feel like I’ve just wasted an amount of money when there are plenty more debts to pay…now I need to reorganize my monthly expenses to make it up…

This is my first air conditioner ever in my life so am sure you would understand how proud I feel about myself… I was imagining if I spent the money on DVDs…I could have achieved 2000 copies of DVDs in a month!!!

I’ve spent more than I should have this month!!! Bought a new air conditioner and flight tickets back to Sabah this June 3….thankfully the fight tickets for a detour weren’t so expensive…well it was RM300 lesser than the usual journey I would have taken (Penang–KK) I bought return flight tickets Penang-KL-KK…I should have bought these tickets earlier!! The usual journey is currently well over RM1000…my mistake so blame me..huhuu..

Now I have to…no! I must cut lots of bucks in June and July to recover…I should be able to do it if things go as planned…fingers crossed and blessing from God…next thing I need to keep an eye is the electricity bill! We are lucky as the electricity consumption at the house we’re renting is way below expectation (perhaps it's an average)…I really hope the new air conditioner isn’t going to cost me ridiculous charges next month…we’ll see...hehe…

Am so going to enjoy my sleep now…imagining buying a big LCD screen for my Desktop and an additional sound system to enjoy movies in my room again! Shit! That’ll be nice…feel like watching movies at Cinema..got to control myself now…hehe..temptation ni tau..

Giant's "Lucky" Experience

I'm not quite sure how to put this...shall I feel lucky about this or it was just another rare opportunity...

I was at Giant Hypermall half an hour ago shopping for some camping stuff...well the purpose was to find cheap fishing gears la...I finally bought a complete fishing gears which cost me just above RM80.00...once I've paid the goods and walked through to the exit I was stopped by this Chindian girl representing Oosis..she joked why I need to walk faster to avoid her as if I was running away from her..I was actually as I really dislike this kinda people who really persistent even after you've said you were not interested...

She then explained that their new outlet had just opened at Queensbay Complex and they're having some kind of promotion distributing vouchers for free...she explained further that I just need to fill up a simple form and pick 1 out of 4 sealed tickets....the vouchers are worth from RM100 - RM2988 and some others are discount vouchers up to 50%....we sat down and I filled up the form then answered 3 simple questionnaires then I picked 1 sealed ticket hoping to get the RM2988 voucher! I got a picture of Oosis Outlet without no details...the lady and her colleageus were wondering what it meant...I jokingly said did I just won your outlet?! That'll be awesome!! One of the guy then came and told me that I've won a 5 years royalty installment from Oosis...I didn't quite get it...by now I was surrounded by 3 fellas....the lady and I believed her senior explained to me what I've just won...I've actually won a FOC products of theirs amounting RM6600 and ready to be installed as well as delivered to me today plus monthly royalty payment from Oosis for 5 years time...Cool!

Apparently there will be another 4 sealed tickets and I have to pick 1 of these...before we go further on these 4 tickets...they explained that every month I will receive a checque from Oosis for 5 years time..the terms are, a picture of me holding the 1st checque with a smile and I have to pay RM6000 to accept the offer..a one time payment RM6000 as an acceptance of the offer...now it sounded not so great isn't it! Well nothing is free in this world...let's move to those 4 tickets..each tickets have got a number in it...they are 12, 8, 6 and 3 representing "lot"...they explained that these lot numbers will determined how much royalty payment I were to receive every month...Lot 12(>RM900), Lot 8 (>RM600), Lot 6 (>RM300), Lot 3 (>RM150) their follow up action was showing me pictures of people who have accepted these offers and been receiving their checques every month...the highest amount of money I saw was RM19xx as that person has won the Lot 12...they then explained further about the royalty payment that the amount of money could go higher depending on the accumulative revenue from all outlet in the state where I won...having said that they told me in Penang alone there are about 7 outlets and winners from Penang so far had received well above RM1500 every month....

I was thinking about it over an over again...and decided not to accept it..it wasn't an easy decision and wasn't easy to decline those 4 fellas...the Operation Officer at Queensbay's outlet came down to talk to me hoping I would accept the offer....he explained few options for me...I would have accepted the offer if I'm not in need of money right now...well I've just paid a deposit for booking and installing air conditioner into my room which cost me almost RM1000 (Grand Total) but this will only be available next week though...I was hoping to have it today but they couldn't make it today (workers fully occupied) also I needed money for next coming trip back to Sabah in June...although I have not bought a ticket as I blog!! (mau tunggu RM1000 baru mau beli kenen..ngok punya wel!!) If I were to have a very lucky day and win the Lot 12..how would the feeling be to have a checque totalling over RM1000 every month for 5 years coming to you without doing nothing???? Accepting the offer for a long term purposes could have been a great decision but I've had an experience to similar case or scenario..I rather decline such opportunity instead of risking my monthly financial allowances...what an offer!!!

3 Decades Life (Almost)

I’ve been very quiet about my career life these days …I was reading my last year’s posts and I thought I had been blogging a lot of my work…my dissatisfaction towards professionalism at work etc…I guess it was due to unsettling environment but I’m glad it all paid off quite well for me…

This year seems to be prosperous for me…glad that we finally found appropriate candidates who are now my colleagues…my main responsibility is to enhance their knowledge, to supervise their work and ensure work performance is improving…although I’ve been getting higher acknowledgment from the management yet I don’t feel like I’m at that level yet…there are plenty of rooms for an improvement...being with the same company for almost 5 years now…is like being loyal to your other half…haha..I could see what I have achieved in those years...I thought of myself being fortunate for the opportunity I’ve been given and that drives me to prove to others that whatever you’re doing…make the best out of it…you got to love what you’re doing or else you’re just a slave earning money at the end of the month trying to enjoy your life…macam pakar motivasi pula kenen..haha..well, I’m not the best person to give speech of career but one thing I’ve learned from experience…never give up…it doesn’t matter what people say about you but it matters what you think of yourself…you got to believe yourself and treat every mistake as another chance to learn to get yourself ready for next challenge…do remember though to admit and accept your mistake…challenge yourself to do things you not good at is one of my best education in life…by the time I review myself for a self appraisal, I couldn’t believe I actually did what I could have avoided years ago….

Perhaps some of my dearest friends have heard of this part of my life…since childhood I’ve always hated English but amazingly every English teachers I’ve known were kind and fond of me (male and female)…mesti sebab saya cute mungkin masa budak-budak kan..haha…my father even bought this English Learning Kit for me but I never cared and always got scolded because I didn’t do anything with it…the kit was full of cassettes and exercise books…I always tried to be a passive student when it comes to English at schools yet the teachers always found a way to get me involved….perhaps it was an advantage of being a cute man-child at that time among female teachers…during my secondary school, I was the ‘green board slave’…I became the English teacher’s secretary to write on the green board…I guess my hand writing was one hell of a kind for a cute-man-child at that time…it was something like a calligraphy..orang dulu-dulu bilang tulisan sambung a.k.a tulisan doctor…tapi tidak juga jadi doctor..haha..I don’t think I could write the same way I used to cause dulu-dulu selalu tulis surat cinta jadi banyak practice la…haha…nowadays we use email, e-card and most common is text messaging to express our feeling...we’ve been modernised!! Shit!! Another reason I could think of why these teachers were fond of me is, my father’s reputation as a teacher (Penolong Kanan)…although I wasn’t into the thing with being the son of a teacher but I’m grateful of being one…hehe…

Having said the above, would you imagine someone like me who hates English as I dislike peanut ended up working with UK based company (UK and Oz based customers)…Bahasa Malaysia becomes the 2nd language…It was very difficult for me when I first joined the company…I was fortunate, the management willing to send me off to British Council Class for 2 continue courses: Business Speaking and English Pronunciation…at first I didn’t care much and thought I was just a lucky bastard but when I was made aware of the cost for these courses (over RM7000) I was more than a lucky bastard!! When I thought of it…it was one of my turning points that made me think of my job more seriously…at that moment I was assured that the company isn’t just a company to hire people but a company who would enhance and shape you to be an invaluable and credible person...neither bond nor contract were signed for me to accept this good deeds from the company…being with the company for this long, one could assume that I have nothing more to learn…well, that assumption is incorrect…I’ve got so many more to learn and the management has been very supportive enough to bring new challenge as per my seniority status…There were moments when I felt depressed (early years) and both CEO as well as the Tech Director approached me and spoke to me as if they were my friends...This has never changed except that the Tech Director had left the company to pursue his own family business…I may be in my safe zone now but I honestly never thought of that way as I have not quite achieved some other aspects…I’m just glad that all this years I’ve never gave up with what I have started….

How long I’m going to stay with the company? That’s one of the question I was asked recently by one of the Manager in the UK…I couldn’t really give definitive answer but I responded by saying something “as long as I’m happy..both responsibility and new challenges...”

Into The Wild

The camping plan was a success…....2 days and 1 night camping trip at Teluk Duyung, Penang National Park

I, Jew and Hendry left the house at about 9:00 24 April 2010 to the nearby coffee shop called “Bali-Bali” for a breakfast…after breakfast, we headed straight to Penang National Park office at Teluk Bahang where most trails start off...it was already about 11:00 when we arrived at the Penang National Park office for registration….at the registration counter, I was told we couldn’t stay overnight at Pantai Kerachut no more…there were already about 80 campers at the camp site and it was more than the daily prohibited number…apparently there was a school program going on there…we were a little saddened but then decided to go to Teluk Duyung @ Monkey Beach…Looking at the trail map, it is about 2.2 Km distance of 1 and a half hour journey….Pantai Kerachut is about 3 Km distance of 2 hours journey…the entrance and its first 1 Km trail has now been developed….well, there was no office and nor trail built (tiles) 8 years ago…the journey began at about 11:30 and managed to reach Teluk Duyung less than the predicted duration…

At Teluk Duyung, there was also a school program going on as well so the camp site wasn’t empty…I think they’ve got about 30 students…we found a good spot to put up our camps as it has great access to the beach, sea and nearby bamboo shelter equipped with decent bamboo shelf and of course a place to do BBQ…it was about 14:00 when we had our lunch…I brought cooked rice from home so this helped to ease the lunch preparation... punya membuka selera lunch ni kali..makan nasi + sambal bilis dalam tin +ikan black bean (touse) + jagung dalam tin + beer…we spent the whole afternoon resting, chatting and did some small chores….we collected enough dried woods for the BBQ and fire at night before it was dark….the night before at home, I bought a crate of beer so me and Jew had already drank 12 cans off 24 cans…the other 12 cans were our main drinking water that afternoon at Teluk Duyung…whilst drinking and chatting, we observed those students making their lunch preparation….they spent hours to cook and finally at 16:00 they’ve finally got their stomach filled with food …there was another group among us at the Teluk Duyung camp site…we realized it was not an ordinary group later that evening when we were resting and swimming in the sea….looking at the flag, it looked like a PAS meeting…a secret meeting??

Just when it was about to get dark, we lit up the ‘ungun api’ I prepared earlier….it was awesome! I have not had the chance to do it as I used to when I was actively into boy scout during my early years…I still got the touch pula...hehe…we took turn taking bath and I really love having bath there…there’s a big gallon of water which was really cold and refreshing…it was night time after we had taken our bath and each of us did what we were meant to do…I did the BBQ, Jew with his instant noodles and Henry had earlier taking care of the fire and charcoal for BBQ and he kept our 'ungun api' to its best….we had instant noodles as appetizer followed by BBQ chicken wings along with our main course of 1 litre Chivas….desert would be dried fish in black bean (Touse) plus cigarettes…prior to dinner we had to go through a panic moment..I’ve predicted it was going to rain but we did not expect it was going to be that scary….Jew had to run for his camp when a strong wind came to the shore...we had to carry all the stuffs outside back into the bamboo shelter especially the BBQ set…thankfully it wasn’t long and we survived the ‘hurricane’…Jew’s camp almost thrown off by the strong wind…it was quite scary being at that situation…those school students were of course panicking and ran to save their own camps…we spent the whole night chatting about life...It was interesting night for us to catch up with each other…discussed couple other personal stuffs with a bottle of Chivas, 2 bottles of coke, some side dishes at a windy surrounding…a nice place to let your mind forget about work…I guessed we went to sleep at almost 2:00 the next day (Sunday)…personally it wasn’t easy for me as I kept hearing this wild/stray dogs wandering around looking for foods….I even heard the sound of bones being crushed in their mouth…the sound of their footsteps wandering around our camping site…I finally managed to get sleep when it was almost sunrise...but had to wake up early as the sun has gone high up heating my camp from the inside….huhu…

The next morning....we had instant noodles for brunch until 3 fellas arrived by boat asking us to empty the shelter for their oncoming customers whom to have a picnic there….we decided to pack all our stuffs and headed back…I think we arrived at the national park office at the predicted time of 1 hour and a half this time….spent almost an hour at the office’s porch...I even took a bath before we headed back home for an actual lunch at 14:00 that day…it was quite a tiring journey but I think we’ve achieved our objective...spending time together out of the ordinary (stay at home)….we have discussed and made another plan in near time soon to really go to Pantai Kerachut and this time we will make a reservation…hehe…


* I look a little darker since my return...

God Willing

God willing I will collect my winning money of RM1.2 million at the end of this week!

I'm so going to enjoy the RM1.2 million for the rest of my life...a nice house of my liking, appropriate car(s) to move around, pay all my debt and of course travel around the globe to see the world we're living...

A very nice dream! Punya angan-angan melampui batas...not a fault to have a dream ba kan..hehe...God willing...

Do you know how irritating it is being phoned in 3 times in 4 days just before 12pm??? I don't mind if calls coming from office or families but 3 times in 4 days?! Are you kidding me??? Do they have a season or something like that to phone people around with 'great' offer?!!

The stories goes like this...Monday at about 11:30am when I was asleep...a Chinese lady rang in introducing herself calling on behalf of CitiBank sub-co with this great deal of offer...rather than paying monthly credit card charges with no benefit, they've got this new deal of paying credit card charges for future saving...doesn't it sound just interesting..I decided to get off my bed and listened to her saying...an amount of money will be credited to my CitiBank credit card on monthly basis and after 9 years of doing so, I'll get a cheque of the actual total amount of money I may have paid within 9 years plus 20% interest!!! I refused to accept the offer several times with my reasons..I've just cleared my CitiBank credit card outstanding balance recently and looking into this offer it may not be that bad..yet what's the point of having zero outstanding balance if I start to charge the card on monthly basis for something I didn't use...let's say at this moment it may not harm me financially but shit happens without notice...one fine day I may lose to temptation and end up charging the credit card for something I could have avoided...and thinking of 9 years paying credit card debt what's that to be called as great offer?? Although I have said it clearly I do not need it as I find it not helping but the lady kept on with her 'sweet talk' and after careful thought of its T&C..I decided to say the word but I'm so going to cancel within few weeks...the unnecessary charge will then be refurbished into my credit card!!!

Wednesday at almost the same range of time just before 12:00 noon...an Indian lady phoned in introducing herself from an insurance company formerly known as AIG on behalf of Reader's Digest....I've expected what she was about to tell me and straight away I said..I'm not interested but she didn't give up..she insisted to explain its policies and benefits etc before I make a decision...I listened to her explanation then at the end of it (after almost 10 minutes) I said I've already got an insurance and I don't need insurance no more...I wonder what kind of training she's gone through, she was so adamant that the policies is way better than most policies out there and it is always better to be covered by multiple insurance....I asked her what's the point of having 2 or 3 insurance if none of these are actually being fully utilised annually...well, few months ago I've received a 20% ROI cheque from one of my insurance provider as I've never claimed anything within its 3 years coverage and am still paying as I blog...did you see the point of having couple of insurance when the existing insurance never even being touched or utilised...it's rather another burden paying an extra expense every month....I then remembered that I once got an insurance from AIG which I cancelled after 2 months as I didn't think beneficial for me...even if I were involved in an accident or admitted to hospital (touch wood), would you go calling each of these insurance companies claiming for money...yes I would but don't you think it's more convenient to have a single insurance policies that could cover your requirement and effectively beneficial to you and families....it may sound like I were to become an Ah Long claiming insurance money from these companies and get frustrated when the process being delayed...they should have prepared a better introduction and targeted people who doesn't have life insurance at all..something like have you insured you health or family members..if yes or no then proceed with another questionnaire before wasting their time with no win situation prospect like me...this time I was very rude by saying something like I'm not interested at all although the offer is great..I'm covered and don't need to waste money to pay for another one....

Thursday and this time it was before 11:00....surely I was asleep and I had a very nice dream when my mobile was ringing...a Malay man called in introducing himself on behalf of some travel agency company..I didn't remember the company name but I did remember the company is working together or supported by the Malaysian Tourism to encourage Malaysian to travel with great deal of offer for holidays...I lied by saying I've got membership with other travel agency and I love what they're offering me so I'm not interested to have another membership card or deal...he tried to persuade me with its benefit but I insisted that I'm not interested and I've got things to do...he gave up and I went on continue my tidur-tidur ayam...

I'm not sure what's going on here...as if they've got this season pula...3 calls in the same week!!! why not a call telling me that some old billionaire hasn't got heir to her/his money and I've been so lucky to be picked up as the sole heir...why not a call telling me I've been selected as the Reader's Digest grand prize winner of RM750,000.00!!! God willing...

I'm so looking forward this weekend...me and Jew have already planned to go for a short camping trip at Pantai Kerachut....God willing, others will join in...weather to be cloudy and windy so tidak la hangus tebakar bersantai di pantai...It's my day off today and next Monday so I've got couple of planned things to do today or so like...renew my bike's insurance and road tax, shopping for tent+sleeping bag+camping gears, buy DVDs, clean the house, go to car workshop for a check-up...maybe I'll buy a crate of beer for the camping trip as a day-to-day drinking water....we already got a litre of Chivas to help us go through the night at Pantai Kerachut..hehe...

Have a great weekend chaps!