It's interesting reading back the past entries of this blog, the things I have written over the years since high school times. I must admit that the tone of the entries changes over time from the transition of high school into University, but then it's intriguing seeing how I was motivated for a while and then I fall back into the old self and then being motivated again and then back to the old self, exactly like a cycle. If I were to draw a chart of the times I was motivated and then down again....the chart would pretty much look like the heart beat monitor...humans can never stay motivated for a long period of time eh? 

Random thought

I really admire people who are able to put themselves in the shoes of other people. The ability to empathize at any given situation or circumstances straight away, as if it's their way of life is indeed a great feat, because I know my first reaction is to judge and then only to think.. By the time I rationalize and think, it's already too late. Words has been said, actions has been done. It's something I gotta work on.. 

So a few weeks ago I came across this blogger named Timothy Tiah (founder of Nuffnag) where he blogged about his wife's car was banged by a taxi driver (taxi driver's fault for driving too close) so he was mentioning that he rushed to the scene to rescue his wife and upon seeing the taxi uncle his heart soften. He knew that this uncle has a family to feed at home, earning a living through driving a taxi. Not that he knew this uncle personally but he was able to empathize, so instead of asking the uncle to pay for the damages (which was rightfully his fault) he paid the uncle for his taxi's damages even though the uncle was rude and asking for such a high compensation when the uncle was in the wrong. He managed to reduce the amount to RM 200 in the end. Tim could very well have just lodge a report and save the hassle of even paying or arguing with this uncle, but he chose to help the uncle. 

If I was in that situation, I don't think I would have the ability empathize on the spot. I would probably have argued my way through gritted teeth because it is after all my right of way. I wouldn't have had the same thought process he went through....Reading his story really inspires me :) Put yourself in that exact situation, how would you have reacted? I suppose there are no right or wrong answers, coz we make our decisions based on our background and past experiences, maybe some of us has been cheated before, maybe some of us are tired of being the "good guy" coz "good guys" are "stupid guys"... Shit happens but I think it doesn't hurt to do some random act of kindness, even if you were cheated. Coz ultimately God sees the heart and the intentions that you harbor, and well if you're cheated just be wiser next time, and the person who cheated you, probably needed the money more than you do.. 

Busy Busy Busy

September is gonna be the craziest month of the year! Even though I've stopped work, but the day I stop work marks the day the roller coaster ride starts >.<

13th - Meeting for CIP/Briefing for CIP/Briefing for Running Man
14th - Execution of Running Man
15th - CIP Day 1 - Sepang
16th - Shopping for BBQ CIP Day 3
17th - CIP Day 2 - Sepang
18th - CIP Day 3 - Sepang + BBQ
19th - TFM Meet & Greet
20th - Fly off to Kedah for ROS
21st - 24th - SMK Merbok, Kedah
25th - Interview with MOE
27th - Myanmar Refugee

and there goes my month of September...won't be seeing much of my family this month I guess =/ BRACE YOURSELF TO FACE THE MUSIC~

Last day of work!

It's been a month, only a month but I've learned so much. Most people think waitressing is a brainless job, a job in which people do when they can't study well; but I beg to differ. It's not a brainless job, or a job that has "nothing-much-to-learn", no doubt the job includes a lot of manual labor but I've learned a fair deal about the people I work with, the management and building my character.

Having some working experience previously while doing my internships in the hotel, I've witness people treating Banglas, Nepalese and Burmese as second class citizens. As if they weren't worth our time and we shouldn't be "associating" ourselves with them, so most of the time, these people were just greeted with a polite smile and that's it.  Working at Peruvie, I got the opportunity to work along side Nepalese, Burmese and Filipinos and it was a wonderful experience. Getting to know these people as people was an eye opening experience. So many times we overlook them because these were the people who does all the jobs we Malaysians don't want to do or known for their cheap labor; but if we open our sepet eyes, they are humans just as we are, who also has needs but are born into undesirable circumstances and due to that, deprived of opportunity as well. During the 1 month, I got to know my colleagues personally. How far they traveled, their nieces and nephews, their families, their own business back home and I thought to myself, they lead such interesting lives. They have a farm!! With pigs, goats, cows, chickens and everything. I got to know about their culture, and how they were so surprised that I'm not married yet at this age, most of them got married when they were 20, and they can't get a divorce or they will be look down upon. It's also interesting to know that half a month's salary in Malaysia could feed their families for 3 months! And so I joked that they would be millionaires when they return home one day ;) I have a sort of admiration for them, here they earn a mere RM 1,600 a month and yet it's enough to sustain them, and yet here I am complaining that RM 2,000 isn't enough to do anything at all...it all boils down to priorities I guess and so it thought me to think of how I'm spending my money and my priorities and to think of the many people living in the city with meager salaries and yet still needing to support families. It taught me to be grateful with what I have and that my family do not depend on me to put food on the table but in fact it's the other way round. These colleagues of mine, though they do not have much in possessions, but they have a BIG heart and they show their love and kindness in their own little ways. For example, they would leave aside a small bowl of food for me just in case the food was finished by the time I come in for work; or would reserve the body part of the fish for me as according to him, girls shouldn't be eating fish heads coz apparently it's bad for pregnancy. (Staff meals served there are usually of the useless parts of fish, basically meals there are very simple. Rice and egg/ rice and fried fish thats it.) The little thoughts count and I was touched by that small act of kindness that they showed me. It taught me that giving, no matter how small can bring a tremendous effect on the receiver.

This experience also thought me a lot about integrity. They are many tricks that the F&B people do to unsuspecting customers, and it has taught me to guard my heart and to know the intentions behind my actions.So many times, I caught myself doing things simply just because I want to go home fast and so many times my conscience would get the better of me and make known to me who I owe my KPI to so that I do my job whole heartedly. So yea, it's this constant awareness that I go through each day that builds my character. I should probably share this. I was naughty one day, I decided to steal a tip that the guest left behind (we were suppose to put tips in a box so that at the end of the month, it gets distributed to everybody, but unfortunately everybody does not include part-timers) so since tips only goes to full-timers, I thought what the heck, why should I work so hard and they get all the tips? So unfair! and so I put the RM 1 inside my pocket instead of the box. I worked through the night and when it was time to go home, I reached into my pocket and realized that the money is gone. That right there was a like literal slap across my face and the lesson came in a form of a RM 1 note. "money is the root of all evil" and it taught me that if I steal RM 1 today, I would steal RM 5 the next, and I would get so greedy about money that God knows what I'll do, so it taught me to earn my keep and what is not meant to be ours, let it be.

Lessons can be found everywhere and anywhere, and it's up to us if we want to pick it up. You can place a person in a place where there is "so much to learn" but if he/she refuses to take the lesson then what is there to learn? So waitressing is not a brainless job where there is nothing to learn, the question is more: Are you willing to learn?    

The Little Prince

 

This was a book that my primary school teacher recommended us to read back when I was in Standard 6. Back then I was sort of forced to buy the book and I can still remember how books were so expensive back then. I think this book was RM 25 with dual language (Chinese & English) and comes with pictures and colours. As a 12 year old with no interest in reading any books, I delight my self in seeing the pictures and place the book in my book shelf in which it has sat there for 10 years now. Yesterday, I finally opened up the book to read because I remembered my teacher said that this book is an insightful book, that regardless of what age you read it and how many times you read it, it reveals something to you, and for that she calls it a Good Book.

The book has only 64 pages, very easy to read. It's interesting how the author thinks very highly of children. That kids are creative, open-minded and always inquisitive of their surroundings; how adults are dull, superficial, narrow-minded, stuck in their ways and quick to pass judgement. How the author has to "lower himself" to the level of adults and talk to them about business, money and golf.  Come to think of it, the author does have a point. How grown ups surround themselves with work, constantly rushing here and there without somewhat of a purpose that they lost the inquisitiveness in them and accept things as it is. 

 

The book talks about relationships, on how we relate to other people. Taking the example of the rose in the book, there are thousands of roses on Earth but in the Prince's planet, there is only 1 rose, and so he thought the rose is very special and took extremely good care of it. When he saw the thousands of roses on earth, he though he no longer posses something that is unique anymore since roses are available in abundance on earth. However it is because he took care of his own rose back home that he created a special and unique relationship with the flower, whereas on earth, nobody actually cared about the roses. "People where you live," the little prince said, "grow five thousand roses in one garden... yet they don't find what they're looking for...  And yet what they're looking for could be found in a single rose" I suppose it's trying to say invest your time into people, into relationships, and that relationship will be unique in all the world, otherwise the people in your life will be like the multitudes of people in the world, them having no need of you and vice versa.

 

I think I'm gonna have to read this book one more time. I read it the first time just merely going through the words without reflecting on what it means. Reading it in that manner is just like reading a story book with no meaning to it, in fact it was quite hard to understand though the words were simple.It's like, what does it mean? Maybe coz I'm a grown up and I've become dull and that's why I don't understand any of it. Gonna keep this book for reading it in the future.

Best Friends

It's been a while that my student has been posting several angry post targeted to her friends in school, saying that they don't share secrets with her anymore, that they have changed and she doesn't feel like she is their best friend anymore. Reading all her angry post, brings me nostalgic memories of me in my younger days, where I was once in that exact same position, back when "best friends" was of utmost importance. I really felt like reaching out to her, to tell her that friends aren't determined by the number of secrets that you share with each other and that friends like that are maybe not worth having too. Unhealthy friends that gossips and that pulls other people down. That being popular and having a lot of friends is not the only way to go, that having a small group of friends who are there for you through thick and thin is better than having a hundred friends but none who would stick by you. I want to tell her all these things, yet I have to understand that at her tender age, this is of importance to her. It's not important to me, but it is to her, that to feel accepted and to feel belonged = to have lots of friends. I used to remember a time where I use to rank all my friends. Best friend, Great friend, Good friend and Friend; but as I grow older, I don't see the need to rank friends. So I don't have a Best Friend nor do I have a Great Friend, everyone is a friend, each awesome in their own unique way, no one out beating another friend. In fact "best friend" has a totally opposite meaning to me now. Best friend is now used for people who are pretty anal to you, for example your really anal boss who is always in your face, so when she come down the hall you say: "eh, your best friend is coming" So yea. Please don't misunderstand me my dear friends who reads my blog, it's not that you're not good enough to be my best friend or whatsoever, it's more like I don't see the need to give a title to it because every single one of you is important to me, unique and awesome in your own special way. And through the years, I found out who my true friends were. Like a statement a wise friend told me "having a handful of true friends is better than having a hundred friends who wouldn't bat an eyelash for you if something were to happen to you" Though I may not live a life of a socialite (I don't have many friends, so if I say I'm going out with high school friends...well it's always the same people...very predictable who I'm out with.) but I thank God for placing such fantastic friends around me. Borrowing me laptop when mine kena stolen, accompanying me to the police station in the wee hours of the morning, offering me a ride when my car broke down even though it was out of her way, offering me transport to the airport, offering up their house for me to stay when they know i'm home alone, offer me full accommodation + transport in Australia HAHAHAHAHAHA ...where la to find friends like these? Sometimes I even wonder, what have I done to ever deserve such friends...I'm grateful for each and everyone of you =) And to think of last time, I yearned to be accepted and be popular, to have many friends only to find out that well...it isn't so important after all. Bottom line, it's quality and not quantity that matters. I've definitely came a long way and I hope for my little student that she would let go, move on and 10 years down the road she would be laughing at history. I finally reached out to her and I hope my words encourages her =)      

Ever since working at Peruvie, I've seen many familiar faces coming through the door. Just today I saw the security manager of Le Meridien dining in at Penang Village, and yesterday I saw my primary school teachers dining in at Peruvie. It's funny and yet very touching that the teachers who taught me in primary school 10+ years back could remember me. She can't remember my name but she was like "eh you don't remember us already ar? Just walk right pass us?" that time I was just coming in for work so yea was so focused in getting my card punched I didn't look at faces of the guest dining in at the restaurant. But what really touched me was she remembered my face despite so many years, either my face hasn't change or well.. I think my face didn't change -.-'' looks like years of waiting at the car park daily for Mrs. Wang to arrive and help her carry books paid off :) she remembered Wei Mei too lol we were the Wei Mae/Mei's back in primary school. Basically inseparable yet constantly always fighting with each other don't-friend-you style. We were like her pet students, we get free milk though we weren't on the milk program, get lighter canings :p and getting well, treated nicer hahaha bias but true. Mrs. Wang was there with my form teacher then Ms Tan, my classmate and her mother. Ah.. How much we have all grown, that particular classmate who was present that day was the one we had a lot of drama with too last time, but as we spoke yesterday, we shared a moment of laughter at how childish we were back then. She has grown up quite well, gorgeous too and going to be pursuing her Masters, makes me wonder what the heck I'm doing with my life.. Why I no like to study? Honestly I'm just afraid of research that's all hahaha. 

Anyway, yea I feel touched everytime someone I barely know recognizes me coz it's always been the other way round in my life. I know them but they don't know me. So eventually when I see people I know but I don't think they would know me I would run and hide, coz it would be awkward right, saying hi and then they say "who are you?" -.-" seeing people I know in the restaurant really boost my motivation and then I get hyper to the point my colleagues thinks I'm crazy -.- but well I think they secretly like it coz I work faster lol so.. Pay me a visit will ya? I know my boss will thank you ;)