Problems with the "High Society"

The below journal is based on a true story. In fact, yes, my own story. Describing a tough day at work with a very unpleasant customer. Kindly do not treat this a new regular blog. Its not a blog, I'm not going to be talking about what I ate today or what fun, or how my day sucked. This portrays the mindset of people nowadays & it IS ultimately important to find out how the society is turning into. I work in a sales like which is closely related to customer service, naturally.

The company which I work in has some great offers to offer a free phone line service. Absolutely no hidden costs or miscellaneous charges. All you need is a hardware to have the phone connected to & it will work. Well, if you do not have the hardware, its an obvious thing to purchase the hardware. Better still, if customers were to retain over his or her existing number with the competitor, this hardware will become free as well. Number retention is free too. Perhaps when you read this and don't know what I'm talking about, its not important, but if its really 100% free then its a benefit to everyone.

I was talking to customer, Mr Ka Chng (not his true name) about how it works and it all sounds good. He was initially interested to retain & transfer his existing number to our side to obtain the free hardware. As a standard procedure, I had to highlight that our phone line has it limitations so he can weigh the pros & cons of our service versus his existing phone line. Its totally non obligatory, I was just assisting him as part of my job, I wasn't forcing him to take up our phone line. After careful consideration, he decided not to retain his number to our side as he is heard reviews that our phone line is inferior in terms of clarity, he can't use it with his fax machine & that he can't connect all his phones in his house. Its free but these are the limitations for our line & I did highlight to him. As I also foresee that it may bring him a lot of inconvenience even though he can save money, I suggested that he forgo taking up our phone line & stick to his existing line instead. I also warned him that once he retains his number to our side, it would be absolutely irreversible. So he should really think twice before plunging in.

He then decided to get a new number from us to "try" our phone line. And because he didn't have the hardware, so naturally he needed to purchase one to utilize our phone line. However, when I told him about the cost of the hardware, he immediately retaliated and said he it should be given free to him. I apologized that I had to disappoint him; its not possible to issue a free equipment to him. By the way, I do earn a small commission for a successful sale, but I "rejected" the sale to customer out of my own personal goodwill, so that he doesn't have a hard time. No obligations right? Its a natural sale process; If we were to talk about buying a LCD TV, if a customer feels the product isn't right for him, he doesn't purchase it, The sales person can't force him. If there's no stock for the product, no sale is done either. If the sales person truthfully feels the product isn't right for the customer, he suggests that he go for another brand or item. Lastly, if the customer doesn't mind the disadvantages and still insists on getting the product, the sales person can't kick him out of the store.

Mr Ka Chng in this instance, bites back by saying that we should give him the free hardware to let him try our free phone line to see if its good. Down time if he is dissatisfied, he can return us the hardware and cancel the service. Yeah, there isn't a contract for the service anyway, so he can cancel it but he can't return the hardware as he likes. In an example, you can't just walk into a store and tell the sales person you want to take this LCD TV back home for to test it and return used goods when you feel dissatisfied.

The horror continues. Mr Ka Chng claims that our company is cheating customers and complains that our advertisements say its free but its actually not. I replied that there are the terms & conditions but he conveniently says no one reads those fine prints. However, he gives me the impression that he just didn't even bother to care. Its just the natural sales process again; since he doesn't agree to it, & I don't recommend it either, its best we not deal. He continues to say that we are not sincere in doing business and that we should succumb to his unreasonable requests.

In the final terror, he threatens to write to the press about his "unhappy" experience with our company. All that because he demands for something free? Besides its not a reasonable request. I in fact would rather he do it so he can disgrace himself and left the whole world know what a cheapskate he is and have the whole world laugh at his foolish acts. To us individuals, he can jolly well go ahead and do what he wants. But to a company's point of view, such events must be avoided. Most probably my company or any other company give the same situation would give in and allow the customer to have what he wants, whether its humanely logical or reasonable or not. Simply because the power of the press cannot be underestimated. Negatively, this would however create the impression that as long as anyone who "threatens" a gullible company with writing to the press, they can get exceptions, perhaps even "break the law".

Why would I say "break the law"? Allow me to explain. Threatening to write in to the press to receive a personal gain or benefit is no different from those ruffians in the early years who threaten to beat civilians up if they did not pay 'protection money'. Yes, that's right my dear friends, the word is 'extortion'.

Sadly, Mr Ka Chng displayed similar behavior. If extortion is immoral, Mr Ka Chng's act seems to have highly questionable conduct. Honestly, his act left me feeling disgusted, that such parasites exists. If there isn't a clause in the law against people to use the press or media to gain personal gains or benefits, this is definitely a loophole that should be looked into right away. If they are allowed to get what they want always, its no wonder how they became rich. Sorry for the same old statement again, but is this how our country is going to become? "The Rich getting Richer & the Poor getting Poorer.

Its great to have friends from different trades; like doctors, lawyers, car dealers, the press or media corporations and more. Having such connections go a long way to help oneself for business expansion or lawsuits or personal health tips. However, some people who are well to do seem to have lost their humanities and start to do things that aren't exactly correct. I have spoken with another elderly man in his 60's, living in a HDB flat. He can't speak English & barely speaks perfect Mandarin either. He was also a customer inquiring about the same free phone line service. Though he tends to repeatedly nag & question "Its free right? If need money I don't want." but I can feel he's a very warm guy who understands and accepts the terms and conditions & the limitations as long as he can save money. He would also profusely thanked me for my help & reminders about the reminders. That made me feel happy too & gave me an even better drive to provide even better service for the customer. You see what I mean, poor and lowly educated people doesn't mean they are nasty. They in fact appear to be more humane as compared to people who lives in large houses. They still have a sense of shame, are humble and sensible to know & do what is right, rather then educated people who are snobbish, think they are big shots, shamelessly demand for privileges and think that everyone has to give in to them. Logically, I'll rather give a free hardware and phone line to an poor elderly couple living by themselves, so they can make free unlimited calls to their friends and family to chat & not someone who obviously can afford to live in a landed property.

The problem with these so called "high society" is that they are selfish people who think that their filthy money and status make turn the world around. They automatically classify themselves into this "high society" and differentiate themselves with others.Sad to say, what ever happened to their conscience & humanity? How would the lower society people in this case, always seem much more friendly? Another big problem with these people here is that they abuse customer service. Providing good service doesn't mean they can always make a big hoo haa and expect things to go their way. I mean if the company did something really unfair to customers like overcharging the customer, he has every single reason to dispute. Seems like people are fond of complaining about everything in a customer service orientated line in order to stand to receive petty gains. For those people who work in customer service lines, I believe you do have to agree that customer service in our country is greatly abused. What happened to the advertisement on TV whereby the customers were super polite, nice and totally appreciative for the service and help rendered by the service personnel. What happened to that campaign? Something should have been done about it earlier to result in this slothy society today. The campaign should have continued instead of over emphasizing on service quality. Now everyone is a spoiled brat to service.

This is a very daring post this time. I'm trying my best to be careful not to reveal too much details to save myself from trouble. At least I'm a man with dignity & integrity. The things I own is either bought with money I earned painfully or through legitimate means. I never extort or do I have to feel ashamed of what I get through immoral or illegitimate methods. If this journal were ever to be discovered & I get sued or something, I only wish my words get around to the hearts of the fellowmen. Let's all stop this twisted atrocities.

There's actually more I may add but I'm very tired handling this unpleasant encounter today. Its late too and I volunteered to do overtime work the next morning as its getting busy recently. Also to give myself a chance to meet another unruly person. Oh, did I mention that Mr Ka Chng slammed down the phone when he couldn't get what he wanted? What a bloody rude ingrate.

Weapon: [Warlock] is Down

All was well, I was playing my Warlock happily today when one of the string snapped. Not sure if I used too much strength, the string just broke. But at least thank god it didn't pierce through my flesh or scratched me. And I don't have any spare strings, meaning I can't play it. Dammit.

I was looking forward to head down to Davis, or Swee Lee to do some shopping for my Warlock but quite short on funds. I had to work my ass off to feed my hobby, but there are other things that might be more important. Well, June is schooling, so she needs some pocket money & stuff. During schooling days she'll definitely hang out with her buddies & spend some money for sure. And just happens that her this friend birthday, then another friend's birthday, equals to extra expenditure. I mean that's fine, on top of that, it just so happens that her slipper kinda broke & she cut her toe. Don't ask me how the hell, it just fucking did. Being her boyfriend, I couldn't let her suffer wearing that flesh cutter, so I bought her a new pair. So my shopping for my Warlock would be put off till a later date, and now the strings broke.

I know that I would not be able to resist spending money if I went down to a guitar shop. So I told myself not to go. But now I really have to go. Wish I had enough to buy a set of EMG pickups too since the strings are out of the way now. (As you can see in the picture I removed the original bridge pickup to see what's inside. & yes, there's no strings, the bridge has been removed too.) However, I would need to modify the interior of my Warlock in order to capacitate the battery & switches, as well as space to pull the wires through. which would cost extra money.

I swear I'm only gonna get the strings... ok... dear agreed that I could get an extra cable for my pedal too... hehz...

Interpersonal Skills

When something goes wrong, you start blaming others as if its their fault & you are the saint. You feel sour about it & turn yourself against everyone. You start to make comparisons with the better things or people in your life. You assume that everything around you has changed, but have they?

More than often, we think that we are always right, or that we are everything in life -- At least in our own lives. Because we can only feel the happiness, the joy, the melancholy, the pain, the bitterness or the hardships in our lives, we can never share the feeling with others, or try to share with ourselves what others may feel about us. Naturally isn't it? ; If I would to slap you on the face, who would feel the pain? And who's gonna feel the 'glory'? However, my example is not meant for you to feel that you should feel its right for you be self centered. The unveiled truth is, the you revolve around the entire world, & not the world to revolve around you.

When have you last though about how others would feel about the actions you took? When did you consider the recent thing you just did was right or wrong? When was the last time you said sorry to someone & sincerely felt the need & remorse to do so? When... has it been ever that you did stop thinking only for yourself.

You could have been only living in your own imaginary utopia, the world that all others have to do your bidding. You must've probably have been an absolute asshole for a very extensive period of time. On the perspective from the higher view, YOU are only a dot amongst the rest. You are only an individual trying very hard to blend in with the rest. Though the others are also just a dot or many dots, but they are together. If you only think about yourself & that you are the most important, you will only be pushing the distance of the rest away from yourself. Being self centered, the friends you have will eventually leave you.

Have you been thinking true friends never were real? Or have they changed? Or was it you who changed? Good news, its true you haven't been the one who changed. Its your friends who really changed. But bad news again, your friends changed because you haven't changed at all -- haven't changed being the absolute asshole you always were. yes, it should have been you who should have changed, not your friends. Let's face it, if you as a minor have changed your faults, the major of your friends wouldn't have had the need to change at all.

Though it may be necessary to work together as a team or group, but it never has been a moral thing to duplicate other's work as pose it off as your own. Let's imagine this -- You had made an awesome new revolutionary invention that could change the entire world for good. You would be a legendary hero, multi billionaire & everything else to benefit. You could have gotten back what you lost, or get things your never imagined you could. A close friend who think highly of your idea comes up one day & eventually ends up stealing your project & claims it as her own. She declares to the the entire work it was her bright idea. She becomes famous, influential, strong & god damn filthy rich overnight whereby it was your effort & you who should have gotten the glory. Pretty bleak right? If it was supposed to be a individual assignment, you should have racked your own brains to deserve your own reward. You do NOT try to act nice and pretend to be interested so you can copy other's hard work one for one. They really spent their own effort & time to complete it whereby you just try to share the end product while you were simply too fuckin' lazy to even exercise your own brains to think about your own job. All you did was to eat, sleep, play, have fun, think about how to snatch back somethings you have lost when you know its impossible. Okay, sometimes you go & take up a job & earn some extra money. but you still never contributed to the job. Now how about you be generous enough to split your earnings with us? All your wanted is to benefit from others without lifting a finger but when its time to do your part you always were never around. How come you never seem so interested when everyone was suppose to chip in? In fact you were always late, or MIA or had some lame excuses. & quit using that reason of "Oh I was too tired" or " Ops... I forgot to do it." you bloody leecher.

What's the next dirty trick up your sleeve? Oh, how stingy you are, trying to save your own money at other's people expense? If you are a beggar I wouldn't complain sparing you some of my spare change. But you just have a bad habit of leeching other's or being a free loader. You seem to really care only for yourself. Sometimes, sharing things is basic courtesy. Its also the sweeter part as friends, they share weal or woe together. But never take things for granted. Offering you something free is just a way of saying that I regard you as a friend. But how could you ever be so thick skinned to keep collecting things for free. it costs other people money to get those items, but you gleefully take & accept as its your entitlement. Even if every single item cost only 50 cents, but if you had taken 20 items, it would summed up to $10, mind you. Don't you even know the limit? How about the other instance? Didn't you say you weren't hungry? Why are pecking food here & there from everyone's share? They used money to buy their own food, not for you to make your own complete meal by picking a bit from everyone. You think you eating Select chup chye peng ah? U gian peng ah?You are only allowed to devour the remains of what we aren't able to finish, since you are just like a dirty rat anyway. Sometimes I wonder if you would eat a classy restaurant, chalking up a bill of $100++ & you try to cheat your way by claiming the gentleman on the other table as your friend & put your bill on his tab. Well, you can't blame my imagination. Because, you typically possess such qualities. Look at you, you are such a grub. You are just so gian peng, until chut chup lor. Don't you know that?

You have the guts to claim the fault on others. You have the guts to express your unhappiness or take it out on others. Don't try to pretend to be the victim. Don't deceive others with your pathetic lies. Don't try to make use of someone & win over sides. If I am the only one who had been behaving strangely, or avoiding you, it could have been just me & my fault. But if everyone's doing the same as I, its time you had better reflect on what wrong doings you have done.Its obviously not us, its YOU. So stop making your petty claims that we hadn't been nice to you. You should have stop being that parasite. We have already left you, we might not turn back. Don't make anyone else turn their backs on you. I emphasize again,

We are not alone... You are...

How other's have been treating you is actually a reflection of how you've been treating them. So before your think about the things all around you turn bad, next time, attempt to use your under-utilized pea brain to deeply think what you might have done wrong in the first place.

"To Err is Man... but Man's biggest mistake is not realizing their own"

Pay Raise

Woohoo~!! I've got my first pay raise since I've joined my company...

But its only a god-damned $30 increment...

Oh well... guess I should still be contented that I managed to stay in this company for over a year.
Anyway I earn mainly from the commission not from their measly basic pay...

ZZZzzzzzz...

Corruption Awareness

Being naive when in my school days, I believed so much that I lived in a splendid country. It's clean and green and there's peace amongst racial harmony. Citizens wouldn't storm up the streets an exercise a riot, low crime rate and almost zero natural calamities. It's safe and everyone lives happily in this country. I wish I were still as naive, just not to realize my grave mistake.

There's actually litter everywhere, on the streets, in the parks, in the public toilets, on the road,. I mean everywhere, except people don't litter in their own homes. Racial harmony is what we were educated, to pull up a front for, to cover the fact of racism. Personally, I can't help but to feel utterly unfavorable towards certain races. Citizens actually live under fear of the dominant hand, while the feeble minded gets pacified by materialistic gains. Felonious or immoral acts are low, similarly due to the fear. No doubt its a good thing, but still causes people to become smarter to find loopholes and violate the regulations seamlessly. Finally, you might be thinking, what has my pessimistic mind has to debate over the fact the there is virtually zero natural disasters. As like our land has no natural resources, the only resource we have is human resource. Humans, or resource, when the wayward minds stray deviant, become the calamity far more destructive than any natural catastrophe.

CORRUPTION

To my astonishment, Ming Yi Fa Shi was actually charged by corruption and embezzlement of the charity funds. Ming Yi Fa Shi, in case you didn't know, is I think is somewhat a shareholder of the well known charitable organization cum hospital Ren Ci Hospital. Not entirely sure, but from the reports on the news, I conceive that he's someone high in position, CEO or something of the hospital. Thanks to my poor mandarin, I couldn't be sure. Although I never really admired him for his fanciful but brave acts he performed to raise funds, neither did I hate him or anything. I was totally neutral. But the news report, the ongoing narration, the cameras relentlessly capturing his images, makes me remember his face real hard this time.

Nevertheless, it was pure shock to know he committed such wrongful acts. First it was Durai from NKF, who dealt a strong blow to our charitable hearts of our citizens with his acts of greed, doctoring the accounts and uses the funds for his own personal luxury. That left us already half skeptical whether charity organizations really uses 100% of the funds to support the needy. Now here comes the well loved Ming Yi Fa Shi to commit something he shouldn't have. I believed many people trusted him, put their faith into him, almost as he's a living buddha. Whether or not he was going to pocket the money for himself or he's doing it to accumulate more funds for the hospital, my mandarin isn't that bad to identify the main words that explains he's been taken to court for his wrong doing. Not forgetting the possibility being convicted.

There also been sayings that Ming Yi Fa Shi merely wanted to raise more funds for the hopsital to help the needy and not absolutely for himself. But I'm skeptical, really skeptical. I mean, what's the creditability of that statement? Could it be a cover up since the cat got out of the bag? Like the cat ran out, but I can still cripple it when I catch it. Know what I mean? If no further evidence is produced, this will greatly lighten the sentence if he really gets convicted. Its common for people who misconducted to have fear and conjure up stories to hide half their sin. Or their lawyers are trying to help them cover up.Its as simple as when we were kids, we broke something, and we might have learnt how to lie to make it seem as though its not our fault. Having served the military before, sometimes when things go wrong, things are covered up along the way when reports are delivered up the hierarchy.

I don't know about you folks, but ever since the case about Durai, I immediately regretted the $60+ I once "donated" by making calls watching those charity shows. Every man has greed, especially wealthier people and bigger organizations will definitely not be directed by elderly paupers living in slums. Its a natural phenomenon when the rich wants to use their assets to invest, making them come back in folds. The question however, is it through the legitimate methods or immoral means. If their crime is well kept under the cloth, and they emerge scot-free, resulting in "The Rich getting richer and the Poor getting poorer". This term has been speculated by many people in our country and it really does seem that we are following the foot steps of the other countries.

Let's turn the tracks slightly for now. I was told that there are students from wealthy families who drives luxury sports cars to school. Example like Lamborghini's or Ferrari's; cars with insanely low bodykits to attain the lower weight placement for greater balance. They face their greatest enemies in a traffic-strict country like ours; Humps. Overcoming one of these in such a vehicle can be tougher than trying to drive through a minefield. The humps will literally tear the under belly of a Lamborghini or Ferrari apart. However, there had been news that such student drivers demanded the removal of the humps as not to damage their bombshell on wheels. The management then says they'll do it as long as the party pays for it. Interestingly, if you were driving a very old & worn out car, you'll probably be ignored or told that you can't expect such drastic changes to be made just because of your personal problem. Not even a horde of people who drive lousy cars who complain will make a difference. Chances are that they will not willing to spend money on such a useless request.

Any of you folks know how much it costs to hire men to flatten out a hump? Well, neither do I, but for sure, its not an amount we can casually strike out a credit card to solve. If such imbeciles are willing pay such an amount for their personal preference, I really can understand how they can easily squander away a million dollars in a blink of an eye. They can drive their super sports cars in other places other then school, can't they? Or is it because they cant convince the LTA to remove the humps on the main roads? Does it make any logic to drive such vehicles to school? Being a show off eh? I'll buy you a T-Shirt with the word "humility" on it. Can't they just drive a more normal car? You need not drive a sloppy car to defame yourself, you can at least use your brains to drive a BMW Z4 Roadster cabriolet or a Mercedes SL Class with carbon fibre body. Driving the most expensive car doesn't make you handsome, just a sucker. You ain't sexy if you ain't got no brains. The woman whom you marry now may be the woman who will poison you dead in other to inherit your fortune or retire on the insurance payouts.

The amount of money spent by these rich good-for-nothing's needs a army of artistes to sing, dance, make a fool of themselves, or endanger their own lives performing stunts over 2 hours in a charity show to accumulate. All these money can be use for good to genuinely donate to the needy, so those artistes can save a lot of time you know? These people whoever, spend the precious treasury on the dumbest things ever. These people may not commit corrupted acts, but it seems their minds are corrupted, in the variation of its definition.

When you have money, everyone smiles at you. When you have money, everyone tries to make friends with you. When you have money, girls will even go for plastic surgery and spread their legs for you. When you have money, everything is no problem. When you have money, the world revolves around you, & not the other way.

Although I don't want to risk myself getting into possible lawsuits, but I feel the need to say it out loud to people. Corruption is everywhere. Ming Yi Fa Shi did something disappointing. I genuinely believed he was a good man who would not sin. But seems monetary values got the better of him. People who squander money over non-constructively matters. Does it mean society bows down to the rich & influential? Many thought in my mind now. If there's a day I'll be sued, I think I'll be fine. Unless If I were those filthy rich people, I'll worry a lot, because I'll wonder about my money and influential status. But personally, if I'll be sued by these rich but evil people till I go bankrupt, or even to jail, it seems fine. Because I have nothing much to lose. Least my life. If I die, I can be a ghost with a vengeance. They can then spend the most money to hire the best taoist to exorcise my spirit. Or even invite Jennifer Love Hewitt (Ghost Whisperer) to talk me into crossing the world. If I die, at least I die with proper justification, rights & integrity. I don't need to live as wealthy douchebag. Nothing can stop me from saying the right things in the righteous direction. Conscience is what keeps me better then the sins of greed.

Crazi Taxi. (I hope they suspend his license)

June & I went out shopping typically. She bought a pair of shoes and so coincidentally the sales person gave her a wrong size; One bigger then the other. We didn't realize until we got home which was hours later. We weren't issued a receipt for the shoes so we had to turn back straightaway to get them replaced. Being tiring from the whole day at shopping & the scorching sun, we decided to take a cab to & fro.

When we were in the cab, the driver didn't seem to be exactly polite, but still forgivable. Now to the main issue; I did forehand requested the cabbie to drive us to the destination, wait for a very quick moment while we get the stuff exchanged and then send us back home where we got on initially. Upon reaching the destination, I requested him to turn into the carpark to wait for us as its illegal to park outside. The carpark has a 10 minutes grace period by the way, and I was fully aware as well as I pay for the parking rightfully if the 10 minutes has past. Once stopped, I handed a sum of fare that was more than enough to cover the entire distance, even back home. However, the cabbie rounded up the current amount to the nearest dollar as clocked on the meter and returned me the balance. He then told me to be back in 5 minutes if not he'll leave. June & I then got off & literally raced off to the store to perform the exchange.

The sales person there said they didn't have any more stock of the exact item. Sensing that it may take a while, I immediately headed back to the cab within 2 minutes since it elapsed. To my surprise, the cabbie has already scooted off! Shaking my head, I headed my way back to the store to tell my June about the bad news. She had already left the store at the point of time. She was refused a refund even though its the sales person's fault. She then offered other colors but they all seem to suck. June then hastily selected another item she didn't really wanted just as return to the cab within the promised 5 minutes. To her horror, it was the cabbie who broke his promise.

The only honest mistake is, I failed to remember the license plate number of the cab as I trusted the cabbie initially. I know what you gonna say. Its like ... What The Fuck???

You would be able to put yourself into my shoes and see things from my point of view. We understand fully that shoes is not the cabbies or company's fault, we accepted that paying additionally for a cab fare on top of the prices imposed on us for the shoes is solely our damned luck. But if the whole mess were to be topped up with a irresponsible cabbie who didn't keep his promise, its like adding oil to fire, do you not agree? To make matters worse, June paid for a merchandise she didn't want at all to fulfill a promise. She could have comfortably haggled with the sales person if not for the 5 minutes curfew imposed by the cabbie. If you had a string of events like this, would you still have a good day? The cabbie's irresponsible actions lead to considerably unpleasant consequences.

If the cabbie didn't want to wait at all, he could have let us know. Remember that he rounded up the fare to the nearest dollar? Although he returned the balance amount, but If I had to be really nasty, he still overcharged me that few cents. We took a cab to end our day in comfort, not to tolerate this kind of behaviour, not to be condoned by anymore. Also a type of service or attitude that doesn't reflect well on the company.

Well, what a day. I sent a complaint to Trans Cab though. Initially, we were like hoping we could be compensated with something, perhaps... taxi vouchers? Haha... But if we were to ask for any form of compensation, it would sound like I'm trying to take advantage of the situation. Just our luck anyway. Haiz.

Growing Old With You

Indeed, its the day that everyone looks forward to celebrate every year. Ironically, it seems like its a day that I somehow rather forgo; I only grow old, as in grow old not grow up. Counting every year, it seems that I have lesser & lesser time to do my stuff, enjoy life or do the things that I really wanna do in life, or achieve the things I really dream in life. So should I celebrate happily that I have lived another year successfully in this world? Or should I start to worry more that I have one less year to live before I live my life the fullest?

Its just as though how you would visualize a glass half filled with water; half full? or half empty.

For those people who knew me since a few years back, they would have known I never fail to avoid or totally shun my birthday. Yes, I dread it. Apart from growing old, it doesn't seem to be anything happy for me. Perhaps I was lonely during then, it was more of a envy then to feel any joy. EIther being single and lonely, having unworthy friends who betray, turn their backs on you, or backstab you sure hits the spot painfully. People around me always having friends, mates or partners to spend that very day with them still beats not revealing your birthday & hiding at home in a corner with any means of communication turned off. But of course, that's all in the past. To chose whether to be happy or not is entirely up to ourselves. Moving forth out of my old emo self allowed me to find the brighter side of life. I took a step to allow others to know when my birthday is. Apart from giving yourself a chance to receive wishings & gifts, I also gave myself a chance to share my happiness with them. And in return, they will also share their happiness with you.

Whether or not I have opened myself totally to everyone or not is not important; they are always still the people whom are assholes, or plain people I can't communicate well enough with since I don't watch soccer or have any similar interest. Talking about women with men simply can't make the cut. Talking about how I love to collect cool electric guitars to women isn't logically the right thing to break the ice. Ultimately, I have now in my life, June to be there with me and some friends whom I can sit down & drink ourselves silly crap about even sillier stuff. Since its a time to actually be happy, let's leave the more serious parts to talk about on another post.

First ever in my life, I'm gonna be posting lifestyle pictures instead of the usual arty farty.

Though I don't do crazy romantic stuff, or bring you to exquisitely expensive restaurants, I believe its the quality time we spent together. And its something money can't buy.

The Crazy Faces of June and Malcolm

Wish I could make the same tasty Potato Salad like NYDC. its so tempting we couldn't resist to dig in before we took a picture of it. Dear says only theirs beat mine.

Last of all, the Three Amigos baked Rice; White Rice in tomato sauce & cream, ham, sauteed onions & their signature meatballs over a thick layer of mozeralla cheese. We sprinkled another layer of parmesan cheese & crush chilli flakes on top. Droolz...