Archive for July, 2005

10
Jul

The Beach

By iamyuanwu 1 Comment
Categories: Uncategorized

It was three or four weeks ago, I think, when a form5 pal of mine — Bernard called me on Thursday.

“Yuan Wu, you free this Saturday to Monday?”

“Yeah, I’m free. Pangkor, right? Pak Cheong mentioned it on Tuesday.”

“So, you going or not?”

“OK, I’m coming.”

Not that I’ve not been to Pulau Pangkor. But I’ve never been to Pulau Pangkor with a bunch of friends. So off we took a bus to Lumut on that fateful Saturday morning. ‘We’ includes Woei Foo, Sunny his elder brother, Bernard, Pak Cheong and me.

If it were up to me, I would not have chosen Pangkor as our destination. It’s nothing more than an island with beaches. Allow me to complain a bit, the sand on the particular beach I visited was quite coarse, not much food available, and the sea was not as clear as you’d expect from a resort island. Sure, it was a lot better than Port Dickson. But anyone who has been to PD would know that PD’s beaches are never(and can never be) a standard to compare to. Verdict for Pangkor: close but no cigar.

The trip could have been quite a boring trip, if not for Sunny. Hah! That guy deserves my salute. First day in Pangkor, the fella kept chanting the “We are the beach boys” mantra. And he made that an excuse to perform all kind of stuff that people would deem crazy if not for the fact that we were tourists.

Ah, another complain from me: no sun bathing Caucasian chics on the beaches! Darn! Nothing to feast my eyes with.

One of the highlights of the trip was that we went snorkeling on a nearby island — Coral Island. Not exactly an island, but a stone the size of football field with trees, and a beach the size of a tennis court. The boat stopped us at the beach, then we had to swim around to the opposite side of the island to snorkel.

No small feat considering we were swimming against the current in the middle of the sea. What more Sunny and Pak Cheong were never swimmers to begin with. (OK…OK… so what if we were wearing life jackets. But let me just tell you: swimming with someone tugging behind you is… phew — tiring) It took us about 15-20 minutes to reach the other side.

After snorkeling for an hour or so, we swam back to the beach. Now the current was with us. What we did was we took off our life jackets and open it flat. Then we sat in it, floating and sun bathing right in the middle of the sea.

Went back to the hotel feeling happy and hungry. While I was practically swallowing my Maggi goreng at a mamak stall, someone called me out. I turned and there it stood Lim Siang. I just visited him in Penang a week ago and now I met in Pangkor. I seems he was here with his family. Haha… so happy.

Another thing(or rather a person) to complain about. I wonder why he so wanted to come to Pangkor only for us to persuade him join our beach activities. He skipped the banana boat, didn’t really snorkel, and refused to eat when our budget went over for RM 50 (200 was the budget). Arrgh! We should’ve gone to Penang instead.

In the end, all’s well, ends well. It was a great trip nevertheless. I’d still recommend it for those on a budget who don’t want huge crowds on the beach.

And don’t bother with my complains. It’s just my inane rantings.

Yours Sincerely,
the VAcationist.

P.S. Is it still too long? Read it, for god’s sake, even if you think it’s crap. I’m desperate. Speaking of desperate, I’d like to promote a bit… I’m S.A.D. — single, available & desperate.

09
Jul

The Punishment

By iamyuanwu 1 Comment
Categories: Uncategorized

This is sort of an extension from the last entry.

The Victim of circumstances…
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Everyone takes their loved ones for granted. Don’t start telling me that’s not you and how much you love your parents and siblings and girlfriends/boyfriends and sons/daughters and what not. Cut all those crap.
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How much you care about your loved ones has nothing to do with taking them for granted.
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The point is we take them for granted because they love us and we damn well know it.
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Most of the time, we punish those who are dearest to us and whom their love for us is greater than anything on earth. We punish them simply because they are the ones closest to us.
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Look at how we lash at those closest to us when we had a bad day at school/work. How we let our temper go out of control when we are with them. How we tease them with sarcasm so hurtful they just don’t know how to reply when they did something that sound foolish to us. Or simply how we never talk to them in a proper tone and with respect.
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Maybe it’s because we know no matter how much we hurt them, they will always be our parents/siblings. We know that they will always be on our side.
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That alone is enough reason for us to appreciate them even more.
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And maybe because we live in a world where we simply couldn’t care less, where individuality is the game and caring is a sign of weakness.

Yours Sincerely,
the VIctim

P.S. Prove that what I say is wrong. Leave me a message in the comment box.

07
Jul

The Stepbrother

By iamyuanwu 1 Comment
Categories: Uncategorized

Mum’s eyelashes had been “jumping” for a week. My brother had mightmares recently. I just can’t seem to fall asleep.

All these omens, if you believe them, means something’s around the corner.

True enough, it had proven to be a series of unfortunate events.

I just can’t comprehend, what the bloody-mother-fucking-hell is wrong with all these people from Taiwan?! (forgive me for the vulgarities, the situation demands it) What’s with the money?! Every year or two, they just keep coming back like a recurring nightmare, hauting our lives with threats, hoping to squeeze the last bit of “juice” out of us.

they flew all the way across the South China Sea to wage a psychological warfare on Him. Playing and manipulating His emotion and conscience, screaming and yelling, pointing finger and blaming……

And then, what the bloody-mother-fucking-hell is wrong with him. Why is he , a person who is a grown man and supposed to be wise enough, standing at the wrong side of the fence?! The stupidity of a 35 year old cannot be underestimated.

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There are some people who just could never let go of events that has unrolled throughtout the course of their lives. What are you going to do with all those things that has happened? Some people cry, some blame, some just give up, some work like there’s not tomorrow, some die, some walk around like zombies, some simply shrugged it off like nothing’s ever happened……

We are all victims of circumstances. And we always are. There just isn’t much we can do when things just happen. What we should do is just let go. I’m not telling you to forget it, and you shouldn’t. I’m saying that you should not carry it with you as a burden. When you can be happy, why don’t you be happy? There really is no point being an emotional baggage for your loved ones. Hurting them and punishing them for being the victims of circumstances.

I always try my best to look around and realise that I am actually quite fortunate. So there really is not much to complain about. There have been regrettable things that I wish I could be given just one more chance to make amendments, to make things right.

It’s a chance that will never come.

Yours Sincerely,
the VIctim (of circumstances).

04
Jul

The Entrepreneur

By iamyuanwu 3 Comments
Categories: Uncategorized

Somewhere I read a few days back in an article, it says the most kids aspire to be doctors when they, or rather ‘we’, grow up. By age 16, the significant role money plays in lives begins to have an influence in their minds.

So, a change of ambition — to start/own/run a business.

To be Entrepreneurs.

So, Tom, Dick and Harry want to be entrepreneurs; Ah Zhu, Ah Kow and Ah Mao (pig, dog and cat) also want to own their own businesses.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t. I just think that having a vision without a way to get there is just plain, lets put it bluntly — stupid.

An analogy: you want to visit a Hungary, so you have a vision. You read articles detailing how beautiful it is. However, you have no idea how to get there. So you wait for a boat at the quay like everyone else, meaning you go to college. Then you see the first boat that approaching the quay. The crew sees you and asks you to join them.

“We’ll bring you to wherever you want to go. Wherever.” says one crew member.

“We’ll have a hell of an adventure on board. Just look at me.” says another.

On to the boat you go, convinced that you will reach Hungary while having a great time on board.

You do have a good time on board, while they celebrate the arrival of this new member with wine and champagne. Hoping that you would recruit new crew members. (In fact, you must if you want to stay on board.)

Until you realise that Hungary has no coast line.

And the boat stops in Portugal. (”It’s still Europe.” the captain says.)

Of the many boats and yatchs and sampans, one the most recent being DCHL-Lampe Berger. An acquaintance I know through AIESEC sms-ed me one fine day. We never greet each other even when we happened to meet during conferences, much less to call or sms each other. Sounds fishy to me that she would sms me. Anyway, I’d figure I’ll amuse her by showing up to yam cha with her.

Upon arriving, she broke off from a group of 10 or so “business partners”. Following the normal how-are-you-I’m-fine-thank-you, she ask about my future and what I intend to do with it. Then she used my answer to launch a full scale psychological attack of how she can make my future come true. I tried prodding her to tell me what this “business venture” of hers is all about.

Failing that, I decided to amuse her further by showing up the next day at the luxurious HQ in HLA building. I was impressed by the oppulence of the office. And even more impressed by the fact that everyone selling the idea of this “business” wore suits and ties. Pretty formal, I should say (I was in shorts and flip-flops).

Having been shown around, I was introduced to this David guy (also used to be from AIESEC), in suits and what not. Then the usual persuading. It’s a multi-level marketing(MLM) scam. MLM gives everyone a chance to be rich. But before you get rich, you have to make other people rich first by “investing” two and a half grand into this “business”. Also, David kept on and on about the company and it en’rich’es his life, her life, their life…blah…blah…blah…

As much as i hate this MLM thing, I have great respect for the person that came up with this idea. One word — Brilliant. Make money by scamming the next guy, telling him he can make money too. When this next guy does the same, he charges a royalty for using his scam. So you make money by cheating the next guy to cheat the other guy to cheat another guy to…… You get the drift.

Just as brilliant, he promotes it as a business in which you invest in it. “Business” and “invest”. Two words that every college kid that reads Robert’s and Tony’s book would fall in love with it.

DCHL-Lampe Berger is not the only one out there poaching energetic young poeple like us with the lure of money, success and owning a “business”. I would post all their names here if only I could remember all those companies.

Like I said before, I’m not saying we should’t be entrepreneurial. In fact, we should. It helps our economy. However, I just think that MLM is not the way.

How many of us college and university kids know that only a handful of so many start-ups manage to survive the cutthroat business world. And of the handful, there are only that few success story. Most of us read Robert’s Rich Dad Poor Dad and think “I want financial freedom”. So when the MLM titanic drops by, we board.

But, do we really understand what an investment means? And how tough starting up a business is like? A person once told me: how successful you are in a business depends on how long can you survive with a loss.

From what I gather, it’s no kacang putih.

Yours Sincerely,
the ENtrepreneur.

P.S. I’m pretty sure that this would anger some people. It should. It is meant to… as an insult… and as a reminder. Fire me in the comment box.