Generation Y

(Thanks to Sharon Lai for forwarding this via email to me yesterday)

People born before 1945 are referred to as: The Silent Generation

People born between 1945 and 1961 are referred to as: The Baby Boomers

People born between 1962 and 1976 are referred to as: Generation X

People born between 1977 and 1995 are referred to as: Generation Y

Why do we call the last one generation Y?

I had no idea, but a caricaturist has explained it graphically below...

Hey, I learned something new today :)

RMxx,xxx.00 worth of vouchers

Today one of the company clients gave the boss RMxx,xxx.00 worth of shopping vouchers to spend until end of this month.

These vouchers are not free but are used to contra the professional fee. They are by no means small amount. The total amount is more than the average salary of most people in this country per annum.

We find that it is quite lame of them to give such a thing. Afterall we are not any Hollywood celebrities who could just spend that kind of $ in a matter of seconds, well in this case a fortnight.

Statistics Department Survey Form

This morning I was awaken up when the electricity supply was cut off at 5a.m. and therefore the fan stopped turning. The next time I woke up the time was already 6.33a.m. Argh! I forgot to switch on the alarm on the mobile phone last night.

I had to be super fast and could not dilly dally. I had to have a quick shower and although the water was not that cold, I was having a slight back problem by midday. I feel like an 80 y.o. Thank God I am ok now.

This week has just gone by just like that. There is so much work but time is waiting for no one including me.

Two days ago the officer from the Statistics Department had already called re. the survey form which I only received last Friday and am supposed to fill in asap. I did not have time to look at it yet and I told him to give me at least this week to see if I am able to fill it in.

When I first started working for the company, I had to fill in the survey form once every three years. Then it became a biennial thing. Since two years ago, it has become an annual thing. All this boils down to more work for me because I have to fill in not only for one company but three companies. So sometimes in order just to save time and energy, I opt for the easiest way out. I would just photocopy the company’s accounts for the previous year end and pass it to the officer to fill in for me. Out of three companies, I usually filled in for at least one company.

Today I became the first person to use the microwave to heat up my lunch. My brother went to Tamparuli yesterday and one of his clients gave him a serving of ‘Tamparuli Mee’. He already had lunch and brought it back home to give to mum. Mum suggested I bring it to work for lunch today. The noodles tasted ok. I still prefer ‘Tuaran Mee’ though.

Left work after 6p.m. The boss was still surfing the internet and therefore I left him to lock up. On the way home, the rain was coming down in buckets and at the rate it is going even right at this moment, I think a lot of places should be flooded by now.

I was glad to be able to indulge in a longer hot shower after dinner tonight.

Tonight I also received some photos from my former guardian’s sister Irene Ng. At least it compensated the fact that I did not get to meet up with them recently. Irene also gave me her brother’s (my former guardian) email address. Thanks to the internet, it is time to catch up with each other.

He does not get ‘it’

The ‘Queen’ is back today at noon from overseas. I did not want to risk it in case she did not have jet lag and came to the office. I parked the car at my normal parking spot. When lady boss came in she said she did not think that her mum (the ‘Queen’) would turn up for work. I kept quiet. (The ‘Queen’ did not turn up but she did call)

The client who received his Occupation Certificates via fax called and thanked me twice this morning after the boss faxed the certificates to him. He is definitely too polite.

Boss called for a staff meeting again today, exactly a week after the previous one. After he finished talking about business, he told us the following.

1. We would get our increment letter this week. I wonder this time how much I would get. The last increment I had was November last year, which means after 8 months. I expect I would not get as much as last November this time round.

2. Now that we have a microwave in the office, someone should start using it. But since most people do not know how to use it, I proposed the lady boss to do a demo. She said maybe we should order some pizzas from Pizza Hut soon and she can give a demo in heating them up.

3. Those that put their food inside the fridge should put their name on it so that other people cannot touch it.

That was when my golden opportunity came to talk about the ‘snooping around’ business. Yes I spoke my mind and the boss totally agreed with me. He said we should respect other people’s privacy.

After that some of my colleagues applauded me. But I only found out this evening before we went home that JE (the ‘snooping around’ person) on hearing what I said asked himself who I was talking about. I did not hear him say that. Otherwise I would tell him directly. Why am I being so nasty?

The reason is because this person is so used being like that. He does not know it is wrong to do that probably because his family members do not mind him doing that. But we are not his family members, he should learn to respect our privacy.

When I saw KK and asked him what he thought about me speaking up, he just said ‘like no difference’. I did not press on further because I had to attend to an urgent matter straight after that. But this evening my colleague NE told me that when JE saw some food on KK’s table, once again he went to touch the food to see what they are. KK did not say anything but JL who sat him behind had to tell JE off. Good on JL.

Upon hearing that, I am back to square one. I have to re-emphasize this ‘snooping around’ business again. Obviously there is something wrong with this guy. He does not get ‘it’.

I had this for lunch today. RM3.

Curry ‘sotong’ (cuttlefish), sweet & sour chicken and stir fried green beans.

I found this in the fridge and cannot refrain myself from not taking a shot. A couple of my colleagues laughed at me.

'Homemade ‘Siew’ bun and curry puffs

Homemade ‘Siew Yuk’ and Spare Ribs

I had one curry puff before dinner. It tasted better than the previous time mum made them.

The ‘Siew Yuk’ was very crunchy. Do not know whether the crunchiness would still be there after a while. The spare ribs were slightly overcooked. Mum forgot to put a dash of honey on them.

The rain was pouring just before I had my shower tonight. Thank God that I am home and for the hot water. Simply lovely …

Two Occupation Certificates

The office boy came back from his errands around 5p.m. and handed me two Occupation Certificates he obtained from KK City Hall. He had to wait for an hour at City Hall for the officer to come back to his desk since he could not get the certificates from anyone else besides that particular officer.

This is the first time that I submitted the Occupation Certificate application and obtained the mayor's signature within a week and the certificates are in my hands after fourteen days. It is a record breaking for a 10 acre project.

(Previously the record was seven days for warehouse project)

It felt so good to hold two certificates at the same time, since the project consists of two phases. Yippee!

Tomorrow I have to make a final claim for this project since we had completed our work.

Do you have anything else to order?

The boss did not tell me he would not be bringing his maid home for lunch until he and lady boss were about to go home for lunch. By then my lunch had already been delivered by the nearby shop. Today the office boy went out to do his errands early so he was not able to take away lunch for the boss’s maid.

So I called another coffee shop (mamak stall (mamak – Indian Muslim) and ordered the lunch. I was still waiting for the delivery at 1.50p.m., forty minutes after my phone call. I called the coffee shop again and the boss told me that because I ordered only one lunch, he would not ask his worker to deliver! I was totally flabbergasted! And he even had the guts to ask ‘do you have anything else to order?’ I told him ‘Never mind’ and slammed the phone on him.

I mean I thought time is bad nowadays. They would appreciate every order – no matter how big or small but I am absolutely wrong. Anyway, I have not been ordering from this shop from a long time since I found out the quality of food has deteriorated when the experienced cook who is an elderly woman left and is taken over by a young lady. I thought this is just a one-off thing, so I will give them a chance to make some business. But since they did not want the business, I had to order the food from my regular shop.

Happy Birthday Jul

I miss you heaps.

Today’s Happenings

The thing that irks me nowadays is that eventhough almost every night before I go to sleep, I have been plucking out my white hair, it seems like a never ending task. There are simply too many of them. I can still see some but I have not taken them out because they are still too short.

This morning I indulged myself and did not wake up until 8.30a.m., having a total of six hours sleep. Had Yeo’s Chicken Curry with two pieces of bread and Sunkist OJ for breakfast.

Sharon Lai was sick with diarrhea and fever so she did not attend Canaanland Celebration this morning. Had a fantastic time of worship as I do not have to concentrate on ushering this month. I can feel the Lord’s presence so strongly. He never ceases to amaze me when His glory descends on us. I am in awe of Him. What else can I do but to give all glory, honour, power and praise to Him who deserves all these.

Rev. Lee spoke on Process of Discipleship : Call to Humility. Phil. 2:1-18

1. Humility advances the Kingdom of God.

- The Lord wants excellence from our service.

- People are reluctant to take up position because it makes them vunerable.

- If we wait until we can perform well to serve God, then there will not be a lot of people serving.

- Sometimes we need to be a fool/laughing stock for God.

- Do not look down on the small gift God has given you to serve others.

- There will always be people better than you but it is not an excuse for you for not serving God.

- Some people are courageous to be pioneers. They are not necessary the best people for the job. But when there are better qualified people to serve, be prepared to let go of the position.

- Num. 20:8-12; Desut. 32:48-52, Deut. 34:5-6

Moses had to die so that Joshua can take over to bring the Israelites into the Promised Land. Instead of being bitter for unable to enter the Promised Land, Moses blessed the people. That is definitely humility. No wonder he’s called God’s friend.

Rev. Lee also shared three examples.

1. Rev. Lee’s English is not that good. In fact if we were to be picky about it, we would find a lot of grammatical mistake in his sermon. Once an anonymous church member wrote him a note to correct him: First come, first served. Perfect tense, not serve. But this did not stop him from serving God.

2. A Taiwanese pastor of a small church played a stringed instrument during a church service one Sunday eventhough he can only play two songs. Eventhough he did not play very well, his action encouraged some church members to serve in the worship team.

3. Once an English speaking pastor was called to pray in Malay Language. He is not very conversant in that language and so he prayed ‘Bapa di Langit’ (Father in the sky: actually he meant to pray Father in Heaven or Heavenly Father). But that did not stop him from praying.

Summary

Be prepared to be a fool for Christ.

Be prepared to die to self.

I did not join some church members to go for ‘Pan Mee’ at Damai Plaza as I felt that my migraine was coming. Since I came home, the migraine went away.

I made simple sushi for lunch. I am glad mum ate some because normally she does not take any as she does not like the stuff much. The way Chloe and I ate this stuff must have motivated her to eat. Haha I made more so that Chloe and I can have them for breakfast the next couple of days.

Had a good rest in the late afternoon.

After dinner, I did some work (I am so proud of myself. Woohoo!) while listening to Light FM on my mobile phone. Still listening to it right now.

Some people have been asking me why I need to be so hard working. Well, I have to do the work eventually no matter what. So it is better to do them sooner rather than later. If I say you could have the opportunity to earn about RM500-RM1K more per month would you do it? And to put all these extra $ into savings. I am sure most of you would.

I have been taking Vitamin B-Complex to give me extra energy during weekdays. If I only work 8 hours per day without OT, I do not need to take them. But since I am working 1.5-2 hours of OT every weekday, I definitely need to take one tablet each day to boost my energy level. I am so thankful for this supplement! Thanks to the person who invented them.

Artwork by Chloe Chong

Occupation Certificate Applications

Yesterday I was ecstatic to find out that the Mayor of KK City Hall had signed the Occupation Certificate for a 10 acre project I submitted ten days ago. The client was so happy when I told him. He said he could not thank me enough. Glad I could be of service to you Sir.

Today I prepared three more Occupation Certificate applications. I am happy that these projects had finally come to this stage as well after a long process.

I left work at 2.20p.m. and brought some work home to do this weekend. Hope I would be motivated enough to do it though.

Cooked and ate Cantonese style prawn noodles for lunch.

Slept for a couple of hours after surfing the internet for an hour. The hard work of the past week must have taken its toll on me. I did not know how tired I was until I did not want to wake up for dinner tonight.