June 06'

2 weeks into work... basically we've only had classroom training, with attachments to senior staffs coming by this week. Seems like the work requires tact, quick reflexes, quick thinking and multi-tasking abilities when dealing with customer's calls. sigh... not something a newbie can do, but given time i believe all of us can... i'm not exactly on the job yet so i'd still have another week of honeymoon. till when i get on it, i'll update u guys then!

On another note, yestesrday me and Yennie went around looking at cars. Since that new Proton Satria Neo was launched, we took the opportunity to see it and scout for other cars. Not that i'm gonna buy Neo now, but just gathering info... if i'm gonna buy a car now i'd have to abandon my plan of getting a bike. Still, driving a car to KL for work is basically financial suicide for a fresh grad like me.

Wat's my take on Neo? well, i'd have paid the downpayment yesterday, if :
a) Motorbike plan is abandoned
b) My parent's resistance to 2-door cars is non-existent.

Personally i think this is the best looking car by Proton to date, second after Satria GTi. But built-quality wise, i still think there's room for improvement. The door doesn't close with a thud like Waja... still have those metallic clashing sound when closing the door. Perhaps a better and thicker rubber would be a solution?

I found that moving in and out of the backseat is even harder than previous Satria. Possibly due to it's lowered roof. Yeah, lowered roof would make tall ppl suffer. i dont feel comfortable at all in passenger's seat, but in the driver's seat, it did made me feel good. Backseat space is crampy, could've been improved if the passenger side dashboard moved front a little and the passenger side seat moved forward. The dashboard is quite space consuming, but that's just IMHO.

Bad points, the first thing i noticed is there's one or two rusted screw that bolts the seat rail to the chassis. happened to 3 out of 5 cars i looked into. saw that when moving the chair forward to get into backseat. how could Proton be so careless on this?

Another small gripe is the glove box. yes it is small. while it didn't mater much to me, i found that the box is hard to close. Happened to 4 out of 5 cars i jumped into. My girl was impressed with the opening mechanism but when it is closed we cant feel the "click" that signify it's latched properly. Perhaps this is a special feature by Proton. While my girl was poking and pressing onto the (soft) airbag covers above the glovebox, surprisingly the glovebox opened on itself! We tried that again and again with the same result! Simply Amazing!!! Perhaps this is a special feature by Proton.... lol...

Anyway this is just the outside thingie la... performance wise i have no comments until i get to test drive it. maybe someday soon.

Meet the protagonist of "Grease the Musical". The Leather Jacket!!!!

Re: Motorbike

I've always loved big bikes and wished to own one in future... however, knowing my earning capability, instead of really huge racebikes (not that i can control that bike either) i'm leaning more towards touring bikes... meaning bikes that is designed to go for comfort and long distance running. No, not like those Harleys or god forbid, Modenas Jaguh. nay... those are called easy riders with a laid back sitting position. and after an hour of riding ur butt will scream bloody murder.

nope, not those.

The touring bikes looks like the common bike in a forward position, albeit a lil bit big in size, but withOUT the oomph of a back breaking and ear-deafening racebike. Their engines are designed to go the extra mile and gives u a pleasant riding experience.

I've wanted to be working in KL and travelling each day KL-Klang on the highway, such bike would be a luxury! I've already set my eyes upon this 250cc Japanese made bike, not the biggest engine capacity (cc) around but that's the tops that my license class would allow.

However, as all of us always know, parents stand in the way of everything we wanted to do. They would give u "advices", "guidances" and "words of wisdom" when in fact those are orders to be obeyed upon. Yes i know driving a car is way safer than riding a bike anytime, but riding is my passion... to hell with buying a car...

What's the point of buying an extra car when there's already an under-utilised car (parent's) at home while my girl is going to buy a car soon? insurance, road tax, petrol, parking, toll and maintenance of a car is not cheap you know!? might as well put those money into smart use by getting a bike!

1, it serves my craving and passion,
2, it's much more economical to run, and
3, i dont have to pay toll and still get stuck in jams!!!

ok, some may argue that riding a bike in Malaysia is pitiful with the hot tropical sun or the torrential rain, but hey, that's part and parcel of riding. If u have the same passion as i do, chances are these are but negligible obstacles. 99% of Malaysian riders ride bike not out of passion, but out of necessity. prohibitive car prices and low spending power here in malaysia is the cause of that.

Time and time again we'll hear these big fat politicians says our fuel prices is the cheapest in the region "excluding brunei", but we never hear them saying our car prices (or rather, taxes) are among the highest in THE WORLD!!! (Bikes as well).

it's a sad country we're living in yet this is the country i'm born in, so i'm not going down 6-feet under without a good fight. at least i know i've stood up for myself.

anyway now i'm stuck, between doing the "sensible" thing just like everyone else (buying a car) or giving in to my desires (getting a bike). heck i dont want to be like some animal that moves in one huge crowd, heads following the tails and end up jumping off the cliffs into some financial doom. Neither would i want be be like some balding uncle who's having his mid-life crisis, trying to act young, tough and macho by getting a big bike.

i'm gonna buy a car in future either way. the angel tells me to be a good kid and listen to my parents, since i'm gonna buy, why not now? while the devil said, being a young gun is only once and if i dont live it my way, i'm gonna regret it when i'm old.

so what if i die young? *touch wood* James Dean went on and became a legend wat...

May 06

After close to a month of slouching at home, i have finally started on my job hunt. there were a few suitable jobs around but i dont feel like asking bcoz it is of sales nature and/or the starting pay is the usual fresh grad standard of rm1.5k to rm1.7k... which i deem is too little to live for.
Finally i went to 3 interviews of customer service. No, it is not a glamour job, and it will be quite boring after a while but my reason of applying is because of the high starting pay.

The first interview was with Fedex... Cust Serv, starting rm2k. Been 2 weeks since the last interview and tests, till today no call no news, so i guess it's a gone case.

2nd, i went thru Jobstreet for the same position in OCBC Bank. One time interview, shortlisted for 2nd interview and tests few days later, then lastly shortlisted for final interview in Cyberjaya by OCBC itself. went there, the place's nice, the office's big. Starting would be rm1.9k, but workplace in Cyberjaya and on a 24-hour rotation basis. Transport would provided plus late nite shifts allowance and other benefits as a bank employee are given so i guess it evens out. The only nag is of course, its high demand of quality standard. one would quickly burn out from that.

3rd i went to Hong Leong for the same position. Here's how it went. First day interview, some ppl went in and out of the room getting interviewed by different ppl. yours truly only went thru one single interview and was told to go home to wait for reply... I was like, so bengang edi... wait for couple of hours and this is how it ended? coz i see ppl getting interviewed a few times and since i am only interviewed once, so i guess i'm basically out. plus there's alot of applicants there and it's only the second day! went home feeling dejected coz of wasted petrol, time and money.

The next day suddenly i received a call to go for 2nd interview scheduled on the day after. YAHOO!!! that's it... went ahead for the 2nd interview, guess i managed to impress the officer pretty much coz after the interview i went to watch X-Men3 with my girl, by the time i come out at 9pm, there were 5 missed calls from them... Geez... called back only to be greeted by the automated call management system.

So, the next morning, i got a call from them once again, and am offered a position with rm2k starting pay, start work on monday 5th of June. Workplace in Wisma MPL, Jalan Raja Chulan. KL. Great. Just wat i wanted. I graciously and immediately accepted it. From interview to position offering --> 4 days. That's fast, considering OCBC will decide after 1 week while the average waiting period is around 2 weeks.

Good thing with HongLeong is, i dont have 24-hour rotation. only 2 or 3 shifts between 8am till 12 midnite. bad thing, of course no midnite allowance and no free transport le... plus i dont get the perks of a bank employee. ie lower interest rate on loans. This also means, i have to forget about joining the Artillery corps coz it includes working on Saturdays. dang!!! Darn... anyway, i gain some, i lose some... lol...

There's some other places i've applied. Sent a letter to StanChart on the first day of HongLeong interview. now i dont care if i get or not. HSBC's Global Support Exec (actually same with my job la, Cust Serv in Call Centre) only offers rm1.6k, like hell i'm gonna apply there since OCBC is just across the road in Cyberjaya offering rm300 more.

However i did apply for its Graduate Management Programme. To get into this one, u have to write in an essay on why u applied, in less than 2k words. Guess i made it through this round coz an email from them came in scheduling a test for me. anyway this email came too late as i've already accepted HL's offer.

Too bad, as instead of doing telephone operator, i could've been learning the routes of Banking & Finances (albeit at a much, much lower starting pay, and getting transferred all around Malaysia for a year!) Sigh... have to push this luck away... if i ever leave my job in HL, i hope the door's still open for me there in HSBC...

May 06

As soon as the month starts, i am supposed to join the Wataniah for the army training... i've always wanted to do something crazy for myself before i start working... coz i know when i start work, i wont be bothered with doing something else other than joining the rat race. i want to experience something that i can tell my children later on...

Ppl asked me why i would want to join the army, since i've finished my degree studies and i should be doing ACTUAL job instead... i guess they had misunderstood what Wataniah is all about... to put it bluntly, it's just a part-time soldier job...

Go for a 1 month boot camp, and ur schedule for training afterwards is only on weekends, meaning we'll be back to civillian life, and doing civillian jobs on any other day as long as it is in the weekdays. the service runs for 5 years and u may opt to retire or to continue doing it. hey, u get paid too, u know... and u're also entitled to government servants' benefits! Most of all, i get to play around and shoot with REAL GUNS!!!

But alas, i guess luck was not on my side... On the first day of training itself, i was informed that there was problem with my blood test result, which rendered me "unfit" to join the army. I was like, "WHAT???"

Apparently my test results showed that i have low blood pressure, abnormally low blood count, sickeningly low platelet cells count, low all this and low all that. Seriously if i AM to be like that, how in the world did i managed to pass their physical tests then??

Anyway i have to be denied entry based solely on the test result alone. some mistake on their part and of no fault of mine AT ALL. sigh... wat to do? i should count my blessings that i havent had my haircut yet, else i'd be losing my hair for nothing!

anyway i went for a 2nd opinion. when i showed my test result to the doctor, he couldn't believe it. He said, to put it in his words, "if this result is true, you are an anaemic patient and severely bed-ridden, with not a hope of getting up unaided, let alone standing in front of me." A new test result shows that i'm all normal and healthy. By then it's already 2 weeks into the training with another 3 weeks to go. deadline's closed. However i could join another session next year. yeah like i would since i'd already be working by then.

I was offered to join, instead of the Army, but the Air Force's Artillery Division. It has no one month boot camp so i dont have to resign from my job just to join, and all its trainings are done on weekends. However the only catch is that i have to complete at least 240 hours of training in the year to qualify and get paid.

I was interested, but it all has to depend on the job that i'll be working on... if i dont have to work on weekends then it's a-ok.

April 04

My girl wanted to style my hair funkily.... so here's the progress.

This is before....

This is the result...

Sigh... i guess being the usual me is still the best after all...

***

Oh, not to forget, in this month our class trip went to Port Dickson.... basically nothing much, i was sick during the night we're having barbeque plus it was raining so halfway through it, i went back to the room for a sleep. But the trip was so cheap, there's still changes left after i paid rm50 for both me and my girl!!! accommodation, transport, toll and foodstuffs... ehehehe...

So, April also meant that my 3-year degree studies is coming to an end. for this 3 years, i've went thru some nice, and some not so nice experience, yet all this has led me to be the person i am today... overall, it was a fun 3 years and like my form6 years, i have no regrets for what i have done!

Lo and Behold!!! The Navigator of Future!!!

March 06

The start of March was not painted in a very pretty picture... on my way to campus that day, i've just witnessed a car accident between a Kelisa driven by a female student, and a Toyota Harrier.

his bf got stuck at the passenger side. the door cant open...
Although nobody was seriously hurt physically, i guess it hurts both sides on their wallets, pockets and bank passboks tremendously.

*Note to self : Next time if wana buy new car, buy one that is equipped with Airbags, if can afford to.... u never know which dumbass driver would come hitting on u out of nowhere!*

When i reached campus, i cant help but to notice this cute lil furball inside the car i parked my bike beside. Poor lil' pooch, i guess her owner must be in class and have to leave her there...

Cheng Meng, the Chinese All Souls Day... also fell between March and April, and i'm back in Ipoh for the cleaning and praying to our ancestors' graves.... Nah actually as a Buddhist all this means nothing much to me, but being Chinese, it's just a tradition rooted in Taoist and Confucian beliefs. This is the grave of my beloved grandpa... he left when i was 9... sigh.. i was his favorite grandson, y'know... notice that "siew chu" (grilled pork)? it's one whole pig there...

We had our breakfast, before the Cheng Meng thingy, in the most famous dim sum shop in Ipoh, Rest. Sun Kim Aik of Farlim!!! Their "wu kok" or deep fried ubi keladi with char siew is the best i've tasted so far.... their char siew pau also famous for its fluffy bread and tasty char siew....

Oh, not to forget, by the end of the month i went to solo ride along a route popular among big bikers... the lake at my back, that's the Semenyih Dam at the background.

hfg

February 06

first of all it's Valentine's Day... Me and my girl went to TGIF for the dinner... she has been itching to go there for quite a long time and we have been quite bored with Chillies, so i thought V-Day would be a perfect day to go there... darn, how stupid i was... almost all TGIF's outlets are filled up to the brim with long lines at the door!!! crazy... i've taken some shot but u know how lousy camera phones are under low light conditions... Finally we settled down in TGIF Sect.14 PJ...

anyway this pic is taken inside the outlet at the brightest spot *sic* available! hahaha... Guess what? Comercialism Profiteering never had it so good, my 3 course V-Day dinner for 2 costs me RM200++!!! Darn... Had we went there during normal days and ordered food and eat till we vommit also wont cost that figure!!! Anyway it was our First Valentine together so i guess i cant skimp and be stingy on the bill, could i?


One day while getting out of the house to go for a movie, me and my girl spotted a gecko. not any usual house lizard that u see in ur house everyday, this one is extraordinarily HUGE!!! We chased after it, it ran to hide under neighbour's shoe rack. We just move that rack aside and snap away...


Here's one of the pic, that tile on the floor is 1-foot long, so u can guess how big that fast (but clumsy) gecko is... lol... anyway not wanting to scare its tail off, we left it as it were after 2-3 shots...

Hello people...

I'm sorry for my dead silence all this while... since February, rite? I don't know what has gotten to me, but i felt no urge to update this blog all this while... ok, i'm bad for keeping u guys waiting for my update and some has stopped coming even... u know who u are. yeah yeah scream all u want but we're still friends, rite?

anyway, things happened around me for that period but it just didnt prompt me to blog about it... i guess laziness is the cause then... bleh... anyway i'll keep things summarized for ur easy reading.


December 05

nothing much, just wana fill in some blanks that i failed to mention here... We went to an MPO showcase, this being the first time for my girl... well i guess i really had opened her eyes to many a things...