Meh....

So....

It's officially 1 month and 16 days since I started work at Citigroup... And what has changed since I started? Well, first of all... finally got myself a new haircut... and don't ask about it. My previous hairdo was seriously getting annoying. I don't understand how some people can keep super long hair... the frequent ways the hair can get into your eyes is just plain annoying. So now, I have short hair again, so yay! Spikeyness and all that.

Then was the earthquake and stuff... ANOTHER one. 2 posts back I was just talking about the Taiwan one and just last week or so, my whole office tower was shaking... And this time, it was really scary. The last time it happened in Cyber, most of us who were at home in the condominium didn't really realize what it was... just ran because everyone was running. And laughing too. The impact of the quake didn't hit us yet... But last week, when it happened in the office... everyone was rather calm, except me. Heart was beating like crazy... Cause I knew exactly what the swaying meant because I'd experienced it before. The moment my computer started shaking in the exact same way it did in cyber, I was like... 'oh shit... quake...' while everyone else was going, 'eh, did you feel that?' or 'why suddenly feel so dizzy...?'. Meh. Not fun.

Well, 3rd thing that I guessed happened is I finally found out how hard it is to actually save money... Need to -really- plan out a budget nowadays. *sighs* So many things to buy, so little money to actually spend on buying it. I wanna new phone... and a new PC... but with PTPTN and a million other things to take note of, might be a little hard to save up for one. Now I also know why those products where you pay by installment is so popular nowadays...

And that brings me to my fifth point. Before working in the bank, I had no idea how deeply messed up people are when it comes to money management. I know I had trouble managing funds when I was in MMU... but never did I expect how people can use money without thinking of the consequences when credit cards come into the picture. Walau... seriously messed up...

Since I work in the credit control dept, which is basically another way of saying the 'collections' dept... I meet people day after day who borrow a ton of cash, and have no way of paying up. EVery month, without fail, the same people have to be constantly called up and reminded that their payment is due, and they have to make payment. And only after constant phone calls, letters, some even telegrams and even lawyer letters do they make a minimum payment for that month. And the way the minimum payment is calculated is that it's just the interest for the month + a very little amount, so you're not really clearing anything at all when you pay the minimum. Add to the fact that there is very very few people who actually stop using the cards when they're in debt... one is practically stuck with a lifetime of debt, one that the debtor can't escape from. In Singapore, it's 24% per year... so you're actually paying 2% of interest every month. Doesn't look like a lot eh? But think about it in the long run, and how much you're actually paying for the amount you borrowed. Before long, you'll realize how it's starting to snowball...

All is fine when your income is stable... You can meet the minimum payments and all that. But what happens when suddenly, you get retrenched? Or some emergency comes up and you need cash? What happens then? In the short span of 1 months plus working at the bank, I come across cases daily where people can't pay because something went wrong in their lives. Now they're stuck with tons of money, and no way to clear it... Really, really scary, the reality of this... And it wouldn't be so bad if they only owe money to a single bank... Most of the cases, they owe thousands to not only one, but multiple banks... How will you ever get out of a situation like that?

Credit cards are evil... I can say that much now. One moral me and my colleagues seem to definately agree upon, is to always pay your credit card payments in full. Without fail. Don't ever, ever deviate from this. And the money for the amount should be set aside at the start of the month as well. Fail any of this, and there's a chance you'll spiral down the whirlpool of debt... When you don't see the cash physically leave your wallet, you never know how much you used until at the start of the next month, and you get a piece of paper stating how much you did... And by then, I can bet you'll spend most of your cash from your pay already...

Credit cards are evil... Use them wisely...



On a side note, and a much lighter one. I'm going to play paintball at the end of the month. Hee! Tell you guys how it goes after I played it. ^^

And no more random quotes or videos! Work be killing my free time. Don't have the time to go randomly wandering the net anymore. x_x;

Power of songs...

Ever come across songs that just hit you?

Songs that you've been hearing for ages, and never get any feeling or kick out of it till one day... BAM! It strikes you, and the words that used to not have meaning suddenly appear so real?

Well, I won't say that this is a rare occurrence for me... since I do experience songs that seem to have so much meaning (most of them are in church, so those are spiritual songs. XD ) but its rare to find one that's in our mainstream media. I'll cut all the rest out and just name the song in question that I'm referring to...

If I Were You by Hoobastank.

Here, I'll pick an excerpt from their song if anyone (I doubt it) doesn't recall what's the song.

So what's it going to take for you to realize
it all could go away in one blink of an eye?
It happens all the time...

*shrugs* I've been hearing this song for like... ages. I don't even remember when was the first time I heard it... or even how old this song is. Hey, it may not even be -that- long... All I know is that it was sometime last year.

But the thing is... it's been playing and playing on Mix FM and I didn't take notice of it... Till last week, when I was driving around looking for peeps to interview for my job. I dunno why I especially took notice of the song during that day, or what drove me to find the lyrics and then get the MP3. Only thing is, it was then that it struck me...

How often do we take things for granted? Life? Freedom? Heck, even a proper meal and a roof over our heads. Most of the time we going around complaining about stuff (like me and the internet last week, when I should more concerned over the deaths of those poor peeps in Taiwan). Reason for this sudden reflection is because, in the course of my job, I found out what exactly is happening in Kota Tinggi, one of the places hit by the flood two weeks ago.

Think massive bankruptcy and also Super Duper Mega Year End Sale. Shoppers will delight in the fact that things were being sold for sometimes, 5% or less of their original price. Expensive branded sunglasses or glasses frame... Usual price - RM 5XX. Now - RM 10.99*! Expensive branded jeans/clothings... Usual price - RM 60 to RM 90. Now - RM 5.99*! Or perhaps that expensive Reebok shoe that you've been eyeing for ages... now it's just RM 2.99*!




*all goods are slightly wet, with some staining and the smell of mud

Yep. Shoppers paradise. But when you look at the other end of the spectrum... It's not that great of a happy picture. Shop owners losing few hundred k cause their stocks of goods got submerged and is now destroyed. Entire households destroyed financially because of the loss of jobs. Or heck, what about important documents that were kept in the local banks? Your birthcert/PMR/SPM/Uni/Passport... All gone. Not to mention being forced to stay in the halls of a school and knowing that your house is probably underwater and being ransacked by some unscrupulous peeps... And to make things worse - eating whatever the aid organizations want to provide for you.

Not a very fun time at all... x_x;

All because of 3 days of non-stop rain. Heck, you may even laugh at the next part... even the local KFC is shut down indefinitely. They don't even know when they can reopen the shop because all their stoves, ovens and whatnot were washed -out- of the store.

Going back to the songs and looking back, well, all I can say is thank God that nothing of that sort had happened to me, or my family. God has been good to me, for that I'm thankful. I just have to be more appreciative of the 'hidden' blessings that I have. Especially those which I do not know about... (like having whomever that's still reading this as friends. =p Even though you guys are so damn far away...)

So my friends... Don't be depressed. Don't feel that life sucks (I can already hear Jon's voice. x_x; ). Think of the betters things in life that you possess. Think positive! Not easy since I'm trying to myself and I know it's hard, but I'm sure life won't be such a dreary place anymore if we do.

New motto!

God is Good, All the Time. (We just don't see it most of the time... XD)

Now I just have to convince myself that that statement is true. X3 Oh well, till next time.



Random video of the day!

Well, if you're interested, and I know that the internet is slow... here's a Youtube video of the song 'If I Were You'.

Wah, so long never update dy... x_x;

*coughcough, brushes the dust off this site* Okay... baaaaad me for not updating more. Last post was like when? Oct? >__>;

Guess JS was right when he said that I was suffering from the New Blogger Syndrome. Everyone jumps onto the blogger wagon, posts one or two posts that go 'Yaaaaay, I have a blog!' but then stop after that. x_x;

So now it's like the 3rd day of the New Year... and the only thing that I'm thinking of is... well, I MISS NEW YEARS EVE IN MMU! Damn. Still remember getting stuck in traffic jam for two years. One in Mines, the other in Alamanda... It was annoying then, but at least it was fun! Not to mention the fireworks display was impressive in a way. Compared to JB here... Erm, I think I recall not more than 12 explosions that night. Pale in comparison eh?

Time flies so damn fast... sien. Think back, it seems like less than a blink of a eye before everything ended. Or it flies so fast when you're having fun. =/ Oh well... I can still say I'm having fun here! A little lonely, a little miserable, but still... fun! ^^; I've not yet lapse into a state of depression yet... yaaaay for me. XD;

Okay, talking rot now.... to everyone that might even come here to read this, well...

SEASON'S GREETINGS and A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Though a little late. X3; Oh well. ^^ Till my next post!



Random something of the day!

None whatsoever! Since the earthquake killed the internet AND lives... I haven't been able to get into the mood to go surfing for random stuff. x_x;

The Banquet....

Hmmm, just last Sunday I went to watch The Banquet with Ellem... Not really sure what to make of the movie though. It was... artistic, to say the least. Every scene seemed to have tiny little weird symbols of some meaning one way or another. Like the candles, to the tapestry, to... to... I dunno... STUFF! I came out of the movie theatre quite perplexed by the whole movie... Just didn't know what to make of it though, other than the fact that it was quite an interesting movie to catch.

But that wasn't the only surprise I caught this week. Since I met Ellem... well... o_o He looked weird. XD Or rather, his hairstyle looked weird. I don't really know how to explain it... It's the spiky variant, but it seemed like someone had applied gel, combed it down properly, then pulled random strands up and in the other direction. I really dunno how to explain it, other than saying that it looked like something out of the fashion magazines... you know, the kind of hairstyles that looks nice on the model but extremely weird when taken into the RL aspect. ^^; I didn't really comment on it though. >_>; Just... stared at it for a few minutes, then totally pushed it out of my mind before I decided to stare at it somemore...

Too bad I don't have a cameraphone... Or any kind of high tech phone anyway... =/ I don't have the cash to buy that kind of stuff... I be poor. T_T Need cash!

And it definately doesn't help that I -still- haven't found a job yet. Meh... everyone seems to have found something to do while I'm still sitting here on my raft, waiting for the winds to blow me in whatever direction they please. So.... sien. Just have to keep staring at jobstreet until I find one I guess... That, and to get my parents off my back. x_x;

Enough whining from me for today... Now for the random video of the day!

Ultra Precision Archery! Be amazed at the amazing accuracy the Koreans have managed to achieve!

So many things to be thankful for...

Wah... tomorrow morning became sooooo many days later... x_x; *swt* I seriously should have tried updating this more often... but then again, it isn't everyday that you have something to rant or talk about...

Anyway, life feels so boring at times... Especially now when I'm mostly sitting at home, idling my time away and just thinking about the ways to get a job... Gah, when I was studying, I dreaded the day that I would have to go to work... The dread of having to wake up everyday and face your boss and your assignments, to be forced to work on things you don't like day after day... But now, seriously, I couldn't be happier to get out of home and actually do -something-.

But still... things isn't that bad... *points up* Topic for today! Seriously, I shouldn't be so upset with things in life... This boring phase is something that will past... sooner or later. Even though when I start working, I know the things I dread will come true. =p

Life is good! Even though most of the time it feels like it sucks. But then again, we think it sucks because we compare it to someone else's life eh? And it's always comparing with the -better- people... I might be bored out of my wits at the moment, but at least I managed to wake up today before 12 today, have a roof over my head... and I can actually sit here and type this out without worry that some psycho will creep into my house and then kill everyone. >_>;; *has just read the news report about the woman who killed a mother and her children, then stuffed the children in washing machines... Scary stuff >_> *

But then, this is something that's repeated like a million times already... x_x; No point talking about it more... I'll just say this though. - Everyday there are so many things to be thankful for. We just don't realise what they are.

Now, if only they were easier to notice. >_>; Wouldn't that just perk up -anyones- day?


Random link of the day ~~~

I should have posted this a few days ago... a whole week ago actually during my first post >_>; Sept 19 was 'TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!' *insert some swashbuckling music here* But because I was too lazy... and sleepy... >__>; Go figure! Anyyyway, here's a weird youtube video about some basic tips when talking pirate...

Woot! 1st post!

Welcome, welcome! Near, far and all!

After so many days of procrastinating about this, I've finally started up my own web blog! Wooo! *throws confetti!* *burst party poppers!* *pops balloons!* >__>;

*ahem*

Now... what am I supposed to write about? o_O; Hmm.....

Hmm...

Hmmmm......

Erm, I dunno! >_>; Doesn't help that it's like 2.15 am as I'm writing this either. *splats and goes to sleep instead*

Aaaaanyway. Back to topic. O___O Must stay alert!

Or... maybe not. u__u ZZZZzzzzzzzzzz....

I shall rant tomorrow lah... Brain's fizzling at the moment. Can't really think... Meh, what a baaad way to start a blog, eh?

Oh well. Can't help it. XD

Oyasumi and nite nite!




Totally random quote of the day~~~

Desserts is Stressed inverted!

So... erm... o_o Eat more desserts!