Darkness & Brightness

What can be bad for a month?

1. The petrol price went up so high one has no choice but sold his car… How much did he get for that? Just enough to pay off the bill repairing the transmission few months back… Pathetic.


2. He got a new job but the people here gave him a total horrific culture shock! (The details? I’ll probably blog it later… )


3. A mysterious allergy gives him this itchy rashes all over his body every few other days…


4. The power windows went dead yesterday, and cost RM360 to repair…

Something 'new' every week it seems…


Anything to be happy about?

Certainly, for I wasn’t even sure if I would live till today exactly 2 years ago. Being alive and having a very supportive family and friends are all that make me appreciate what I have today (and won’t really care what I don’t have), and give me the power to move on.

I must work harder to make it better. :)

"Legends"?

A group of young motorcyclists riding their machines in Kota Baru wearing ‘serban’ instead of safety helmets. A question has arisen in this town over whether it is an offence to wear the ‘serban’ instead of helmets and even the police have stopped issuing summonses until they get a clearer picture. The matter arose after one motorcyclist challenged a traffic summons in court. – MOHD SAHAR MISNI / The Star

Another big picture was on today’s newspaper front page, titled ‘Turban Legends on the Road’. Legend my foot! I couldn’t care less if they don’t wear pants! I think this is probably the most stupidest front page I’ve come across.

Picture taken from www.thestar.com.my.

Fishy Cure

Since last Thursday when the petrol and diesel prices gone up to as much as 60%, the kind-hearted leaders from our government have been tirelessly explaining the justifications for the hikes, blah blah blah… I don’t really believe all they said, and I know I’m not alone after reading today’s headlines on The Sun -


I can tell the editors have a good reason for the way they presented the front page ;)

Celcom

I received this text message this morning, from Celcom:

“Attention. It is an offence under the law to make false/crank calls to 999 and Celcom reserves the right to terminate yr account without prior notice.”

Is Celcom accusing me of making crank calls to 999?!

How crude/rude these morons can be treating their customers with such intimidating/threatening notice? Yes I know some of them manning the helpdesk can’t even speak English… That fella in-charge of marketing/PR must be sleeping on his job. Or maybe they were working in some Government Departments before this?

People Watch

I shot this guy because I thought he ought to be shot.

It got me thinking, that it’s a matter of perception; you may say he’s Bold? Expressive? Animated? Open? Courageous?

I still think he’s Amusing.

Color

Spent a good Saturday morning recently with loads of colors and energy! Of course hot sun and sweaty humid air are part of the package, but once again my camera made it a day well spent.

Roaring Red

Shakin' Blue

Flyin' Yellow

Serious White

Wavin' Green

True Blue

Arsenals in Color!

Then and Now

Just not too long ago, I closed sales from as little as RM450k to slightly more than RM18m a year; I dealt with all levels of people from the Business Managers, to IT Directors to bank owners; I have accumulated enough flying and hotel points that I got to stay at the same room every time I checked into the hotel of my choice; I never have to worry about entertainment expenses whenever I was traveling on business; I enjoyed making decisions on strategies in winning sales; I enjoyed my jobs for the past years.

Just a week ago, just when I got a little excited about the prospect of revisiting one of my favorite cities, Bangkok, with this new job, I was bogged down by chores of checking hotel rates, applying AND justifying for an expenses advance for a mere additional RM500, then took a budget flight arriving at the hotel at 2.30am local time.

Just yesterday, I was told I should’ve made notes when attending conferences even though the presentation notes/slides were expected to be distributed; how to make myself ‘current’; and my boss made a call in the middle of the sales meeting to a principle in Singapore just to verify if what I’ve reported was true; suggested some ideas in making appointments with prospects; then another fella seized the opportunity and commented about time management; and wrapped up the 2-hour meeting by deciding to hire a junior sales exec which I planned to reject.

Life’s a bitch!

The camera I brought along probably saved my sanity.

My Birthday

Today’s my birthday. It’s a very important day for me. I guess one must not take birthday for granted, as life is simply too precious, short and fragile. It’s important to me because 2 years ago I wasn’t even sure if I got to see today, more so I’m now sitting in a café in downtown Bangkok, enjoying a pizza, iced tea and WiFi for lunch!

The last business trip I was in Bangkok must be 5-6 years ago… Traveling was part of my job then so it didn’t mean much to me whether I was in Bangkok, Sydney, Jakarta, Seoul, Shanghai, Toronto, Sao Paolo… I didn’t really appreciate the opportunities traveling in company’s expenses, making friends all over the places, closing deals in vast different business cultures.

Although today I’m in Bangkok, under company’s expense, I didn’t get to stay at my favorite hotel, I didn’t get to fly at the schedule I plan, I had to share my room with my boss, I even had to justify to a sweet-young-thing office admin to apply for expense advance just 1 day before my trip, not to mention not having a company credit card for my expenses.

But guess I’ll learn to move on, and look at things from another perspective; from the brighter side, and be more generous. Life is too short, it’s too precious to waste.

Sony Ericsson in Bangkok