Work Tales pt 1

I'll start from where I currently am right now. This really isn't about who reads this cause I don't think anyone really visits anymore but really, it's a reminder to myself of this account and what this year has been.

I do recall having well and clearly, resigning from my previous job (which in itself was a blessing and i'll blog about that one some other day) by this time last year. When I considered submitting my resignation, I thought and prayed about it for weeks. In my mind, I could hear my parents lecturing me against doing so telling me how silly I am to resign from my job before securing another job. It came to one Manifest rally night that I had the peace and the prompting to resign and it'll be alright. I called my parents and told them and to my surprise they asked, "What was I waiting for?" I handed in my resignation that Monday morning.

I took an extended holiday and came back starting the new year without a full time job (I did have a few freelance things to keep me out of mischief). The moment I got back, I called an agency and told them that I was in the market for a job and scheduled to go in to update my details. They did say that there was this company with it's Asia Pac base in Malaysia and they're hiring an accountant here in Aust. I got excited imagining posisble frequent trips to Malaysia. The agent said she'll send me the details which I waited for but never received. I assumed that they were just not interested and oh well, what's new?

I look back and I've actually not gotten any of my jobs through an application that I've put in. And this alludes to the rest of the story. I got a call from the agent asking if I did not mind travelling to the bayside to work for a not for profit org. The interview is the next day with a view on starting right away. Without much thought, I said yes.

The interview was 2 minutes. No, like literrally. 2 minutes. I sat down and he asked me a few simple questions and he said I could start working now and  my colleague would train me. I didn't think starting right away meant starting RIGHT AWAY but what else could it possibly mean?

A few weeks into the job, I did wonder whether I rushed into the job and did not really pray about it because I said yes right away. I also did think as it was on a contract basis at first, I could just find something else once the contract lapses. My superior then, did say that while I'm being trained and doing Accounts Payable (which is basically processing and paying invoices), they are looking for an accountant to do more. However, i took it a day at a time and it was Accounts Payable a day at a time. It's not the most stimulating job. As I questioned my decision to accept the job, my superior walked in that evening and he started asking me a few questions. I felt that that was more the interview rather than the first 2 minute meet and greet. He asked about my previous job and a few questions about my personal life and he concluded saying, "You are very lucky. I actually interviewed three other people before you and I didn't think that they were suited for the job. But when I interviewed you the other day, I thought you would be suitable for the job."

Really?? The cheeky thought was, "How bad did they stuff up a 2 minute interview??" But in actual fact, I cannot attribute any of this to myself but God's favour upon my life. Do I deserve it? Certainly not. I did not even apply for the job. I thought I wanted something more corporate which if I do blog soon, I'll blog about how I'm glad that I'm working where I am now and how it's impacted my life. And about how He opened the door from Accounts Payable to more interesting stuff. Yes, accounting in my eyes is amazing.

For now, this job fell out of the sky from nowhere. As I did let go of one job and with my little trust, trusted Him to provide, He provided. Beyond my expectations. He's got my back and if anyone else still reads this, He's got yours.

Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

Luke 12:24-26 

United, my love

I'm back!

I've been reading a few biographies lately and I do recall agreeing with a friend how a sports biography is no biography at all. What's so great about the achievements of a sports personality in comparison to someone who's shaped a nation or built a business aempire out of nothing, the risks and the challenges that came along the way.

I was sadly mistaken. One of my GMs who ardently supports the Scousers lent me Stevie G's autobiography. I remember looking at him and thinking, "you want me to read this trashy stuff?" Of course I was joking. But as he handed me the book, he said, "You should read about this fantastic Liverpool player." To which I replied cheekily, "Stevie who? I don't know about the club, but I know a player who plays quite well for his country." (Of course we all know that in actual fact, I think we've seen him perform better for his club than country but that was the best I could come up with on the spot than to acknowledge that anything good could come out of Liverpool! cept for Owen who's made the right choice)

Now that exams are over, I've found time to read the book and I must say it's quite a good read. Football through his eyes, his determination for every challenge and every game, makes me want to kick a ball right now!

As great as a footballer he is, this what he has to say about greater footballers in his first ever training sesh with the England boys.

"All around, the quality was frightening. This is the first time I had seen Beckham cross a ball close to. 'F*** me!' I said to Michael. 'How does he do that?' When it was my turn to run in to finish one of Beckham's crosses, it was a goal before I touched it. Honestly. He was dead accurate. Beckham puts his crosses in just the right place; it is in fact harder to miss. We had a game after the crossing and finishing, and Beckham was again sensational. After only a couple of hours of training with England it was obvious who the top players were.

A couple of weeks earlier, Michael and I had been at Melwood, chatting away. 'Just wait till you get to Bisham and see how good Paul Scholes is,' said Michael. 'Wait till you see with your own eyes.'
I looked at him. 'Well, I've watched Scholes loads of time and I know he's good.' Michael just smiled. That set me thinking. Michael was going on as if Scholesy was different gravy, streets ahead of everyone else. During that shooting session at Bisham, I realized where Michael was coming from. Scholes was just so sharp, so clever. He banging in goals from anywhere. Crossing, finishing, volleys, the power in his shots, the dip and movement. 'F***ing hellfire,' I said to Michael. 'How do I get to this level?' The Man United players were just brilliant. I swear it. 'Just watch the United boys,' Keegan told me. 'Just watch the way they are around the place and in training. Learn off them.' The United lads gave a master-class. Bisham was heaving with top players, like Shearer, but Beckham and Scholes seemed to be just on a different level."

-Gerrard, My Autobiography-

For a lot of us who've followed football recently, we've seen quite a fair bit of great freekick goals and setpieces and thunderous shots from the outside including some from this Scouser. Reading this has brought fond memories of when I'd put on my United jersey to watch a match and each time Becks steps up to a freekick there'd be a buzz of excitement, and almost a certainty that a goal would be coming up. I think if someone were to do a count on percentages of goals scored from freekicks taken, Becks might be up there. We're not talking about one great wonder free kick. But more to come after each freekick goal. Every time Scholesy has the ball outside the penalty box with a view on goal, we'd almost be ready to celebrate. And then celebrating when it hits the back of the net.

It's a good read and I can't wait to read more. He's a great player, but I'll always love United more. Michael knows what I'm talking about.    

i don't want to judge

but i will anyway.

That's what i think anyone who starts off a sentence before they make a remark ends up doing. Whether they mean well or not. Most of the time it's a negative judgment of someone or something they did and we try to make ourselves sound less judgmental.

As for me, i think i'd want to try and use that phrase only if i can have a positive input in that person's life rather than sound like someone who's got it all together and pin point the faults of others.

Moussaka

So, we had Greek for dinner. it was aight. Not the greatest and not the worst but still I'm thankful. And we didn't end up ordering moussaka

Anyway, as we were discussing what to eat and where to eat online, Tiff and I were conversing in different languages on msn. Not because of our ability to master so many other languages but it was only possible because of google translate. Not that it did a fantastic job.

"Is this George's mother's mousska?"  =  "This is the mother of george moussaka?"

GG

I initially thought that my coming exam  was on the 20-something of May. Upon closer examining the dates and planning to start studying, I realised it's actually early May. This was 2 weeks ago.

I have started studying on a snail pace and finished Module 1 with 6 more modules to go. Today, as I was pulling out Module 2, I looked at the important dates and target weekly schedule and it says this week, I'm supposed to start Module 6.

GG
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God's grace.

SNAPPED no more!!

I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever.

Hellooo! ok, I did say watch this space and i had a lot of thoughts to pen down. I guess that didn't quite happen. Nor do I feel like blogging right now. I just do believe that today is a moment to pen down cause the camera is back!

Firstly, hi Stephanie! Yes, I know you read my blog. Sorry it's boring cause i seldom update.

For most of you who do know, my camera died on the day I left for Malaysia. I penned this whole 2 page ordeal while I was on the way back rotting on the plane and wanted to put it up on the log. Maybe I will one day, maybe and most likely, I'd be too lazy.

So, in the absence of my camera, all you got was some spew about the motherland while I was in KK when everyone was asleep and there was nothing else to do.

All in all, Hooray!! The camera is BACK!

Malaysia Truly Asia

Currently blogging from the land of Kota Kinabalu. I've been back in Malaysia for about a month and a half and I've been doing a fair bit of observing and trying to note what has changed from my previous trip back and whether it's for better or for worse or was there any change to begin with.

Referring to the title of the blog, what does that even mean? Does it mean that by visiting Malaysia you don't have to go to any other Asian countries? Do you get the whole cultural experience that you'd get from visiting the other Asian countries? Is there no MORE Asian country than Malaysia? Does it make Malaysia the best out of all the Asian countries?

Same same but different?? Malaysia, be it gomen or people living in this land, I think it's fair to say that we'd visit some neighbouring country and think, "We're not like them." And carry on on this whinging tirade of how we Malaysians are better because we have the Twin Towers or this apparently world class F1 circuit. We like to think we are more developed, better, stronger and whatever else but in a lot of ways, i think we're the same. And that's where I may have offended a lot of people who are ready to stand up and point a finger at me saying how wrong I am.

I try to visualise looking at Malaysia as how an outsider would look at this country. What do they see? Whether the get off at KLIA or LCCT or cross the border into JB, what's their perspective? Is this a country that tries to represent and makes it's mark in this world by once having the tallest building? So what? Does it REALLY make Malaysia any more developed? As a tourist, whether one who stays at every 5-star hotel or a backpacker, I think that Malaysia is as much a developing nation as the other nations in this region. Having the tallest building does not make us any better. There's still the issue of poverty, discirmination, poor maintenance of buildings, poor road conditions, and the list goes on. Yes, each nation do have their strengths and weaknesses. In the eyes of an outsider, I believe they see us all as one and the same. You have that few interesting touristy destinations but everything else is run down.

By saying all of the above, I'm not writing off Malaysia. But that in many ways, we are not much better than our neighbouring states. And until we accept that fact and stop thinking so highly of ourselves, nothing much is going to change or worse, it could be a detrimental change. Forget that tallest building. Yes some people work in it but for the rest of Malaysia who hardly see it in their everyday lives, what really matters is proper rubbish collection and disposal, proper traffic control, better infrastructure, better systems, better behaviour, just to name a few.