Ah Kau & A Wage Earner

Hi, sharing with you all one of the email that is circulating the internet emailing at the moment. While the main purpose of the story is to serve as a reminder to most of the "professional" intelectual out there, i have some of my own interpretation.

1. Respect - Many "professional" has lost respect and not entitled to be respected. Many only look up-ward to those who are high-ranking, who can benefits them or who control their wages, and never notice those who clean their office, wash the toilet or guarding their security at work. Even these people know how to smile at you or respect you sincerely. I am ashamed of myself to be in the same group of this "professional", who majority of them dont even respect a basic human being. Basic human nature, if someone dont respect you or didnt earn your respect, you do the same to them. I despise these majority "professional" who think they are so high up there, one day they would be failing like the "wage earner" in the story, and i am hoping and looking forward for such day to witness it.

2. asset vs liability - with the finance modernization, all the "professional" thought that they are building up "asset", but the truth is they are building "liability". Many goes bancrupt due to credit card debts and because not able to repay bank loans. I myself bought a house and car with bank loan, many people said that i am in good situation because i almost have everything, but the truth is the car and the house is not mine, it is on the bank's name until i fully repay it. That is the hard truth that many deny it. I only manage to control this through small amount of loan through minimization based on my ability.

3. me vs work - after 5yrs of working life, my personal view is "work doesnt worth it to trade with personal life". I used to be a person who have target, have will to work very hard trying to climb up the career ladder, and patient although most of the time the situation is not siding me, but now, i would say screw the work. It doesnt worth it. For me, is redemption time. I want to pay more time for family, for friends and for personal interests & need on company hour expenses. Even uncle Paul O. publicly admit in webcast that there is no job security anymore in this globalization world. Unless you work harder that anyone else in the world, you are out. "wage earner" can be fired anytime due to globalization. You can be "re-deployed" anytime. There is no sense of belonginess. Royalty to company is a rubbish.

Again, apology for the harsh wording. I too have many deficiencies as well. Remind me from time to time since i am not thinking straight due to the emotion...

So, what is your take on the story.

The Ah Kau Story
Ah Kau is a guy who sells newspaper every morning next to your apartment, and you are one of his daily regular customers. Before dashing off to your office every day, you will go to his small stall and buy The Star newspaper. Wearing a newly pressed shirt, a tie, and a pair of Clarks shoes, you grab a copy of The Star, pay
RM1.20 and exchange smiles with Ah Kau and greet him. Apa macam Ah Kau ini hari? Bisnes ada baik?

The normal greeting like you do every day. Yes, Ah Kau doesn¡¯t speak English. He speaks Chinese and knows a little bit of Malay. He speaks a little bit of Malay but with a very thick Chinese accent. Biasa saja¡ ini bisnes aa, kadang kadang baik, kadang kadang tada untung oo¡. Biasalah hidup. Kadang kadang ok, kadang kadang tak You give Ah Kau a pat on the back. You smile and walk away and get into your car. You start the engine and start driving to your office, a multinational semiconductor company located in a premier industrial
area. You are a young and promising finance executive and the future looks bright for you.

A year goes by and things look pretty good on the track. You decide to marry your fiancé and have your new wife moves in to your place. Both of you feel happy because you can save more money as the two of you will be sharing
one apartment and can live as one. Ah Kau is still selling the newspaper as usual. Sometimes in the morning your wife gets the newspaper from Ah Kau
instead of you.

A year later a child comes along, and you decide to buy and move into a newly developed condominium just across the street. This place is bigger so it will be perfectly fit for the 3 of you. But since both of you are working, you decide to get a maid to take of the household and your kid. By this time you're offered a managerial job from another multinational; the remuneration package offered is much better in terms of the pay, contractual bonus, medical benefits, ESOS scheme and a few others which make it impossible for you to decline. So you join this company happily.

You get busier. You realize that you spend less and less time with your family. When your department is busy preparing for the next audit, your working hours become more and more ridiculous. Any internal issues arising in the office means you'll be stuck in the office until 8 or 9 pm. Sometimes, during the weekend, you'll spend your time in your office, buried under paper works and documentations, instead of taking your family for a walk in the park.

One morning, on your way to get your copy of The Star, you realized that Ah Kau is no longer in his stall. So is his rundown motorbike. Instead, there's another young Chinese guy at the stall. What happen to Ah Kau? You ask out of curiosity. Oh, he is still around, but he is no longer taking care of this stall as he has opened up a new grocery shop down town. I am running this newspaper stall for him. Ok, you smile. You feel happy for Ah Kau. At last he manages to improve his life.

Your normal life continues. A year passes by and at the end of your company's fiscal year, you're rewarded for your effort with a 5 months bonus pay-out by your employer. Wow. Now that is a very handsome reward. You feel your effort has been equally compensated. To celebrate, you decide that it's time to trade your
5-year old Proton Wira to the latest Honda Civic model. It won't be much a problem to you to get a loan scheme from the bank as your pay slip will provide you an easy gateway to access financial help from any bank.

One day, the hardest reality of life hits you right on the face. The company that you've been worki ng for years announces that they're moving their business to China for cost and competitive reason and has asked you to find a job somewhere else. What? You scream out cold. I got a lot of liabilities on the card! Who's gonna pay for my mortgage? My car? My credit card? My gym fees? My bills? You yell like there's no way out.

This is the first time you feel let down by your own employer. All your hard work seem to go up on the smoke. You feel sick. You now hate your company. On the way home, you stopped by at a mamak restaurant for a cup of teh tarik while pondering about your future. Alone. Suddenly you saw this new, shiny BMW 3 series being parked nearby. And to your surprise, it was Ah Kau. Yes, Ah Kau who used to sell newspapers nearby your old apartment. What happened to old Ah Kau? You whisper to your self.

Ah Kau still recognizes you, and sit next to you, and shared his story.
To make it short, Ah Kau had accumulated his money from selling newspapers to open more stalls, one after another. Every new stall is run by his workers so that he focused on opening more and more stalls, which in turn give him more and more money. Over the years, he had accumulated enough cash to open up new rocery store while at the same time buying more assets to grow his wealth. And his current wealth and success is achieved without any loan or financial help from banks and other financial institutions.

There you go. That's the story. While Ah Kau is set to become financially free, you're back to where you're started before. Ground zero. Before leaving, Ah Kau gives you a familiar quote, "Biasalah hidup. Kadang kadang ok, kadang kadang tak ok." He gives you a pat on the back and walks away.

In reality, if you're observant enough, there are a lot of Ah Kaus out there, that you will see every day and every where you go. The names are different, but inside them is every character of Ah Kau. They might be Uncle Dorai, Ah Chong, Pak Abu, Makcik Gemuk, Pak Man nasi lemak or others. They look to be struggling on the surface, but if you look carefully and compare with you life, many of them
are livin g with little or no liabilities. They ride an old kapcai bike. They live in an old rundown house. They don't have credit card to swipe. They wear a 10-year old shirt and short. No new, shiny Toyota Harrier. In short, their living means are far below than yours. But what you don't realize is that many of them can save more money than yours, and over the years generate enough money to expand their business, or invest in properties. Their asset columns are much thicker than
that of yours.

So the next time you see Ah Kau, never look down on them, and never under estimate them. Or else you're up for a harsh reality.

飞向札幌的班机

Another song that I heard from the MyFM radio station, on the way driving back after dinner today. (btw, I had volleyball practice today in preparation for PDC Cup next week, been a nice experience as well with CK and other). Found the song quite relaxing, and as i just read the lyric, it is actually a get-away song, from love. Sang by JS.

posting it here, sharing with you all :)

飞向札幌的班机

终於开始相信
爱情不只是频率的问题
我们需要一点空间呼吸
我太过依赖你
已经不知不觉失去自己
怎麼重新设定我们间的关系
我还没那种勇气
奋不顾身离开你
就当作我暂时去旅行
飞向札幌的班机 抗拒地心引力
逃离虚构幸福的自己
5000英呎的空气
心渐渐失去重力 冷锋过境
我们的爱情 北半球的天气
像你不安心情捉摸不定
时而刮风下雨下一秒又放晴
我曾那麼爱你
就算失去了尊严都可以
曾几何时我却开始讨厌我自己
我还没那种勇气
奋不顾身离开你
就当作我暂时去旅行
飞向札幌的班机
抗拒地心引力
逃离虚构幸福的自己
5000英呎的空气
心渐渐失去重力
冷锋过境
我们的爱情

kyle xy

Today's posting will be some of my review thought on the tv series "kyle xy". In case you dont know, since i have change my job scope, downloading tv series from the internet and watching it has been my hobby already. I have watched a lot of series, old and new, mostly US series, some are from Taiwan and some from Korea. There are some that are my favorites, and there are some that i watched just to kill time :) To list on the magnitude of series that i had covered, here they are
24 season 1-6 & counting;
Smallville season 1-6 & counting;
Criminal Minds season 1-2 & counting;
Grey's Anatomy Season 1-3 & counting;
Prison Break season 1-2 & counting;
Supernatural season 1-2 & counting;
House MD season 1-2 (just started watching);
Lost season 1-3;
深情密码;
Palace S (korean);
Wonderful Life (korean);
Kyle XY;
Threshold;
Invasion;
Dark Angel season 1-4;
Pretender season 1-4;
The Unit season 1;

^_^ now you know how much time i have killed since last year :)

Well, back to the main topic, "Kyle XY". Although the series is just plain 9 episodes of season 1, it meant a bit special as i interpret it after i had watched it.

For introduction, as normal, the series is about the US government conspiracy to create an advance human being with high level of IQ through cloning. "Kyle" is the name of the main character and "XY" signify the chromosome combination of a male. Kyle was "borned" without a belly button in the jungle and is a teenager around 17yrs old, if i am not mistaken.

As the show evolves, it is actually about Kyle exploring the unknown world to him with curiousity & eagerness, absorbing them like a sponge, trying to understand his feeling as a human (including love), interact with other human and trying to understand their behavior. Sometimes, as we grew up, we had changed until we have forgotten how we used to view things as a child. And Kyle shows the way. It is not about innocent or pure, but is about what you really want in life, which is "happyness".

Kyle was adopted by a social worker doctor, who find Kyle was "different" because of his unique behavior. The doctor thought Kyle has suffers from trauma and trying to cure him by absorbing him into her family of a son, a daugther and a husband.

In one part, when Kyle was first brought into the house, Kyle was amazed seeing many many family photos hanging on the wall of infants with the doctor. He met the son and daughter, then seeing how much the doctor love her children, how happy the doctor and the children are in the photos, he came to a conclusion that as time goes by, they would eventually become infant (not growing old). He came to such conclusion because he himself has not memory of infancy since he was cloned. He yearn for the day he would become a infant and be loved by doctor. At certain point, Kyle then realize that it was the opposite, human do grew up. He felt dissapointed a bit, yet he was a bit lost as he knew nothing about his childhood.

In another scene, in one morning, Kyle was curious why the doctor talk about appointment at ??am; the husband talk about needing to reach certain location at ??am; son and daugther need to attend class at ??am. He totally has no sense of what "time" really meant and why the people around him bounded themselve with the "time" thing, rushing here and there. In fact, he dont even bother to try to understand the "time" rules, and explore the world as he like, with happyness always around him, with a smile always on the face. Remind me of how happy i am when i was a kid. It totally gave me a reminder how happyness should be.

In a few scene as well, Kyle was totally lost when he cant understand the feeling of him felling in love as well as later broken in love with the neighbor's daugther. In one evening, as Kyle sat in the living room, he heard a beautiful piano song (Canon) played from far. He interpret the tone of the song with mathematical equation, yet there are certain part that he cant understand in the song, he felt the sadness in the song, the sadness of the pianist. He walk toward the neighbor house, go into the living room, that is the first time Kyle met his love, yet he suddenly cried because of the sadness in the song, and had scared the girl. He then later found out the sadness is because the girl has lost her father. Later, he still dont quite understand about his love, the only way he express it is through his drawing. Btw, the way he draw is very unique. He capture scenes like a digital camera in his mind, with all the detail of every pixels, and started drawing exactly like a printer, by creating dot dot dot on the paper, using different color combination of crayon, and the output is exactly like the printer. He drew the girl, in one moment he tried to pass the drawing to the girl, but he then suddenly found out that girl has a boyfriend, he withheld, he is sad, yet still not able to understand why he felt such way...

These are just some of the uniqueness that i found in the show. May be you can watch it if have the chance, and share with me you views :) Till then.

SWATers forever :)

Losing a game certainly is not a good feeling. Today is the third game the SWAT team from intel played in the b4u basketball tournament for the northern zone, which is our last as well. We won 1 game, lost 2 games. Is the end of our journey here, but also the begining of intel SWAT basketball team :). There were certainly moment of piss (my fav feeling ^_^), joy when win, despair when trailing behind, not able to accept etc. But when think back one of my team mate aka long bsb mate quote "losing but we have tried and enjoyed the games is much better than winning but blaming each other", i do feel that i really enjoyed the journey this time, although we lost. It is a new experience for me to have played with them. There are certainly many areas for improvements, and losing will the the driving force for each of the players to train hard to improve. I believe all of you can be a better player for SWAT team, through exposure, through the correct understanding of basketball skill and played as a connected team. Till the next experience, if my body didnt fail me :)
On the way back driving on the bridge, there is a new song playing on the radio. The tone of the song feels like a driving force to keep on trying. I like this kind of song. Later, i intentionally note down the title of the song, and had downloaded from baidu :) Is a chinese song, "礼物", meaning "present/gift". Now playing it while i am writting the blog. I found the lyric as well, had read through it once, just knew that it is actually a heartbreaking song of seperation, where seperation is taken as a gift... anyhow, i just like the tone. Attaching it here, hope you like it as well

礼物

歌手：黄立行 专辑：无神论
歌词

ps: you might notice that made a come back with the blogging thing :) Well, there is a reason for that. I just got my appraisal, still average for 3 yrs already. So, my conclusion is, no matter how hard you work, you are still average, why the fuss? Career at intel will not be my priority anymore, mediocre is my target now :p till then

good old bsb day (season 1)

hihi, the photo posting is making a come back as well :) in this season 1, i will pull out some of the photos from the archive, taken at the time when digital camera is not a norm yet, yet the moment captured that is priceless, like Mastercard :p Anyway, seriously, i do treasure those moment :)
Be reminded that the photos posted are not in chronological order, just a random post ^_^

For some photos, have year with question mark, meaning that i not really sure of the date, just a rough guess :)

UTM bsb team at University Islam Antarabangsa (UIA); Yr2001?

after victory game in the final, celebrating;

capturing the half naked moment in a venue where strict attire need to be observed :p

At UIA as well; with our best UTM coach (still are);
captured after a game in the preliminary round;
why this moment in UIA is the best? Because is my first tournament to represent UTM,
and because is the 1st after 3yrs at UTM,
as well as we won the championship from USM as an underdog team;

Last Row, from left: Yao Chuan; Choon Yee; Ah Tiong; Coach; Me; Ren Min; KTC; Han Yong;

Front Row, from left: Ah Sin; Yee Chen; Ting Lik; Weai Kheng; Ming Yang; Ah Siong

At Desaru; Yr2002?; my fav; funkiest photos with the UTM team :)

UTM men team with Coach & family at Desaru, yeah :)

Moment after prize presentation, Victory for UTM :)


CIA=captured in action, haha
taken in Melaka by a reporter, and he is generous enough to have gave me the photo :)
1999?

Yeah, i used to be on The Star newspaper wor, dont play play :)

Yr2000; Penang PISA; SUKMA Basketball Gold medalist;
my first ever and last gold medal representing Penang State;
btw, on newspaper again, haha :)


Yr1996; ABC-Asian Basketball Championship for Junior (under 18); Johor Bahru;
yeah, all of us are still under 18 that time, some look not like isnt it :)
1st time representing Malaysia; moment captured with Korean & Iranian players

The Malaysian Junior Basketball team in ABC 1996-Johor Bahru; I still remember Coach Bruce (sitting, 1st from the right in green shirt); sitting beside him, 2nd from right is his Phillipine's wife (if my memory serve me correctly on the nationalism); he is a good coach, he is the first coach who ever taught me basketball fundamental; i communicate with him the most, because i am the translator for the team; I still remember the moment where we are a very hard group to be tought/trained (his training is killing us as well, a lot of "suicide" running), and there is once Coach Bruce had a mild heart attack and rested for a week >_<>

The team again with Coach Bruce; the other 2, back row standing from left are local national coaches

2nd and last year representing UTM in MASUM; Yr2002?; we lost the crown to USM this year, we are the 1st runner-up; taken after the final; if you do notice, everybody not really smiling actually


MBL- Malaysia Basketball League; Penang Stallion Team; Yr1998?; We achieve some result in our first year in the MBL for the Stallion team


Agong Cup 1999; Penang in final after a long long time, however, we not able to get the championship; 1st runner-up

Agong Cup 1999; Penang Team during the team dinner at Confusion School Hall.

late...

It was certainly a good slept yesterday. (dont speculate ya, i am not writting a novel like Julian, haha). It is about me. I slept very early yesterday, around 11:30pm, and that is the time that i consider early already. I usually sleep much later than that.
I cant remember i dream of anything. It is just a sound sleep, until 9am this morning, so peaceful. btw, i rained yesterday, might be the best time to have a good sleep. I have not slept so soundly for quite a long time. The first thing that i asked myself after i wake up and saw that it was 9am in the morning "is today saturday???". I took me a few seconds to find the answer. "Nay, today is Friday, and it is still working day!" usually, at this situation, i would rush to bath, rush to dress up, rush to pack my laptop etc. Yet, i dont. I took time to on the laptop and check some email, then bath, then pack a few things, than walk slowly, take the motorbike, went for breakfast at Sg Nibong, then took the long route to the company :) Is stress free today's morning. No meeting, no traffic jam etc. Feels like no burden attachment today. Guess i dont really care anymore today, may be just for today.
Now at office, writting my blog, just want to pen down my feeling :) i will be off in less than 2 hours later for lunch, then for the DA department teambuilding for the rest of the evening. Looking forward for the rest of the good day today. I wont work today. In this less than 2 hours, i will write my weekly and set my out of office assistant. and may be pen down some draft for my next posting. Then, you know what i am going to do/snake. Oppsss :) It is not the TGIF feeling, just that is a good friday :) To all, have a good weekend ahead ^_^

15/3

I just notice, today marks my completion of 3 years service at intel. Not so long or not so short. But if i reflect back, i am totally changed, from a positive person to a skeptical person, from narrow background to a more diverse network, from a dummy in semicon to an mediocre expert in Semicon design... Cant really list all of it out in such a short time of posting. Anyhow, there are certain things that doesnt change, i still play basketball, still single, still have my parent, still having debts to bank.. there are still certain part of me that is still me, and wish it will stays if can.
I am very fortunate to know many of close colleagues in these 3 years in Intel, especially many of those from SD, no matter you are still here or not, my deepest gratitude to you all, for guiding me, teaching me, sharing with me moments in life.
To those minority that i am unfortunate to have know them, those who i hate, those who have leave a deep scars in my life and career, those who i curse, those who i piss, i just want to wish them all the best in leading their miserable, nerdy, lawless, useless, meaningless, targetless life.

life goes on...

Sir Winston Churchill, November 12, 1936
"The era of Procrastination, of Half-Measures, of Soothing and Baffling Expedients, of Delays, is Coming to its Close.
In its Place We are Entering a Period of Consequences."

quote

This is a quote that i notice on the wall of the dentist that visited early this week. Interesing, funny yet is the fact.

The priests, preach for all
The lawyer, plead for all
The doctors, prescribed for all
The plain citizen, pays for all

and my added part "The rich citizen, pays with ignorance" :p
what is yours?

An Inconvenient Truth

Spend an evening watching the whole documentary, is the truth by Al-Gore

Sir Winston Churchill, November 12, 1936
"The era of Procrastination, of Half-Measures, of Soothing and Baffling Expedients, of Delays, is Coming to its Close.
In its Place We are Entering a Period of Consequences."

Upton Sinclair
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Inconvenient_Truth
http://www.climatecrisis.net/