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So Close

Many of you might not know that I play the piano, but I do play the piano. I started since I was 3, stopped for 2 years when I was 8. Jumped a few grades to catch up with my friends, and finished grade 8 before SPM.

I continued to the diploma level during the first year of my college life but put it to a halt after 6 months. I realized that college was taking up too much of my time and I was not all up for practicing the piano every single day. I stopped playing ever since. Until a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a wonderful song, “So Close” while I was watching Enchanted. It gave me the motivation and inspiration to play again. So this is it, I do hope all of you enjoy the song and my playing! =)

Disclaimer: I wasn’t playing at my best so expect some petty mistakes here and there. If you think this video is a fake, I can always perform live, with most preferably a Yamaha piano! And with the piano scores of course, because I suck at memorizing pieces. =) One last thing – if you expected me to sing and not play, that’s just too bad because I don’t do youtube singing!

2nd Job

There isn’t any appropriate reasons to not posting this up, so this is it, my first job experience as an ambassador of DiGi campus Roadshow in University Malaya.

Having no experience at all in this particular field, I have everything all planned out in mind of how I’m going to make this thing work out for me while I was waiting anxiously at the gathering spot – Old Town in Jaya 1. It was a fine morning when I comfortably sat myself in a chair at a corner outside of the restaurant. Should I be fortunate or unfortunate to have a smoker sitting right beside my table? Fortunate I may say because he was a pipe smoker and I’ve never seen one in action before.

Clearly, he was of Arabic origin with his rather tanned skin and moustache and beard growing all over his face. I observed every single motion he made, occasionally looking away to avoid being caught looking at him. Apparently, he was a wealthy and successful guy who had worked his ass all the way to the top of a well-known company and now had all his employees attending to his work while he enjoyed his morning Cappuccino and smoke.

Whatever he was smoking really smelt good, but I refrained myself from inhaling any of those pollutants. He handled his pipe meticulously as if he was a neurosurgeon fixing a fragile little human nerve. I couldn’t help but realize that every puff he took from the pipe was going to kill him sooner or later, giving him awful-looking ulcers to his lips and an uncountable number of cancers that could rupture and screw up his anatomy before he die a painful death. Anyway, I learnt the right way to smoke a pipe that morning. Which I probably would not apply to any part of my “quite-healthy” life until the day I die.

The day in UM started off great despite that mere blur-ness in me. Every one was busy opening up boxes, setting up buntings, folding gift boxes, and etc. I, on the other hand, tried to figure out ways to give a helping hand. After all was set, I grabbed hold of a few leaflets and registration forms and set off to the entrance of Kolej Perdana Siswa in a mission to get my first customer. Putting a smile on my face and great spirits in my voice, I started explaining about the cheapest package in town.

I’m not a people person but I wasn’t nervous at all and I did have courage to approach every single person I met. I got stuck often as I explained to enthusiastic students, and I knew some of them noticed it. Hah! My explanation got smoother as the day progressed, but the number of customers I get was not enough to earn me my commission. I was disappointed but it wasn’t entirely my fault because I shifted from KPS to K12, which had a lower traffic and a lower number of enthusiastic students. That night, I made a promise to myself to be more professional the next day and get myself 28 customers before the end of the day.

2nd day. My faith was shattered after a few attempts to persuade students who were devouring their meals to purchase a new package of DiGi campus/try out the new DiGi plan as I approached their tables. Some even scowled at me before I even had the chance to speak. Their attitude peeved me alright and restrained me from further promoting, but the target I had to meet to earn me RM20 motivated me. Evidently, Lady Luck was absent for the first 2 days and it made me envious to watch my friends walking away from tables with filled up forms and IC in their hands. I failed yet again.   

From the 3rd day onwards, things started getting better and more tiring. Traffic swelled and the situation at the counter was chaotic. But we managed to pulled it through with the help of several Yellow Armies, which constituted of students of UM. Finally, on the final day itself, I managed to get top sales, earning me an extra RM20. I was satisfied.

Benefits: - I get to know lots of people, had a chance to officially introduce myself to one of my ex-schoolmates, got to speak Malay/English with Malay accent after years of learning the language, become someone who’s way different from who I really am, and finally learn how to converse fast and persuade people in a short period of time.   

Yay to me.

The guys

The Girls

First Experience

Blogging to the song of “So Close” by Jon McLaughlin is very refreshing although I’m going to be blogging about my tiresome days of working at Robinsons in The Gardens.

Malaysian timing is not something one should be proud of, but Malaysians seem to be practicing it everyday. Meetings postponed due to latecomers, briefings had to be pushed to an hour later because the client had something else to get busy with, even marriages got delayed because the bride and groom got caught in a heavy traffic in the middle of a bustling city! Punctuality has a certain meaning to it that we must not take for granted.

It was a cloudless Saturday when I was all dressed up for my first part time job. I admit there was a slight sense of anxiousness tingling in me. Arriving there extremely early, which was 45 minutes before my work starts, I alighted the car and walked towards the entrance. The timing was perfect because as I approached the huge transparent glass doors, the security guard was just unlocking the thick iron chains that shut it tight.

I wasn’t sure where I was supposed to head to but all I knew was to find someone with the name Ms. Shamini. I started asking around after walking up and down the escalator several times. My first attempt of questioning brought me to the entrance of Robinsons at the 2nd floor and to the security guard who was standing guard right over at the railings. After having not to speak Malay often, I found myself forming words and sentences with much difficulty as I asked for directions.

Finally, I found the staff entrance, which was situated right beside the male’s lavatory. Coolness! After surrendering my belongings, I went into that huge elevator and brought myself to Ground floor, then into Ms. Shamini’s room. I was not surprised at all when I was notified that I arrived first, because indeed I was! Paid a loan of Rm30, I received an M-sized Robinsons-tee, a Promoter badge, and a punch card.

When all part-timers arrived, we were given a short briefing about the rules and regulations and of course, penalties if the rules were to be crossed. Of all departments, I was assigned to the Ladies. Greatness, it would be a wonderfully new experience I thought. I was introduced to this guy whose name was Ruben rather than the supervisor himself because he was on leave that day.

I was put to station at Coast that morning, which was right in front of the Cashier counter. After Ruben gave me some explanations about the sizes, I started walking back and forth, scrutinizing those extraordinarily pretty and expensive dresses, which I have never given a glance whenever I go shopping with my family or friends. The first hour passed with only a handful of customers who came and went without a question. Boredom Bugs started to get into my nerves in no time.

There was nothing for me to do except to stand there and be prepared to assist any customers who had questions or enquiries. It was a boring times 100 job. My legs started to feel achy after merely 2 hours had passed. 7 more hours to go and I was filled with guilt for taking up this job without knowing the consequences beforehand. The only thing that was keeping me going was the break time at 3.

Out of desperation, I took out my phone and sms-ed my friends in a hope for them to pay me a visit and to keep me company. None of them turn up. On top of that, there was no one to talk to because that small section was kept under me and my only surveillance. Poor me and pity me wished and prayed hard for time to pass by faster than before. That moment was gruesome and it’s dreadful to think of it now. I wonder how could one survive being a full-time promoter.

Your legs ache because of the standing, your neck gets stiff for God knows why, your tummy drumming away because of the late lunch hour, you get bored because you are not supposed to clump together for some chit-chat sessions, and you get scowled at and unnecessary grumblings from fussy customers. Being a promoter wouldn’t make me any happier unless I get commission from the purchases my customers make. And that’s the best part of this job I get, I don’t get commission.

So basically, there' wasn’t any motivation for me to keep my ass working except for that RM10 I get for every hour I stand. What a boring job that I wouldn’t think twice to get back to even if that were to be the last vocation on earth. Of course, I did learn something new over there. I learnt that when put under pressure, people tend to rant about everything even though it’s to someone they don’t really know. =)

It’s 3 in the afternoon and I was allowed to go for my break! That feeling of freedom was overwhelming I must say because I could finally have a seat and satisfy my empty tummy. I savor every bite of chicken rice and every second I got to rest my legs before I had to struggle through another 5 hours of standing. I could already feel my knees breaking apart and my cartilages and ligaments wearing off as the synovial fluid dry up gradually.

Going back to work, I was kept refreshed for the first 2 hours because of the food and that 1 hour of rest. After which, I found myself dragging my feet along that nicely tiled floor and finding stuff to keep myself busy. Then, there’s this friendly sales advisor who talked to me for a moment and kept me company while he arranged the clothes hanging on the metal bars. He was so eager to go back home as he continuously asked me for the time. At one point, he was like, “Kenapa jam you begitu lambat? Saya balik sekarang lah!” then he walked off after bidding his goodbyes.

A long Saturday it was. I had a good sleep that night as there wasn’t any energy left in my body for a simple slight motion. What an experience!

Awkward Silence

My whole anatomy is now numbed with nothing but tiredness. I can’t believe I stood the whole Saturday away and am going to do just the same for Sunday. Dear Christians, please put me in your prayer list, pray for I could live through tomorrow.

Yesterday evening, I attended a briefing in Jaya One for the upcoming DiGi Campus Roadshow as I was chosen to be one of their ambassadors! Yay!

We were asked to be punctual because it’s supposed to be a pivotal meeting, so I arrived 15 minutes earlier and thought it was a good idea to make a wonderful impression on my fellow “colleagues” and “team leaders.”  There were a handful of highly-spirited people in the room when I entered. Ignoring them totally, I grabbed a seat at the front and was handed 2 MYC! magazines to kill boredom.

Flipping through the page as slow as I could, knowing that I would have to wait for quite some time, I tried to admire the layout of every page. It turned out that I wasn’t slow enough or those people weren’t punctual enough! I literally had to stone after glancing through those magazines, because there were nothing else to do in that 16 feet by 10 feet teeny room.

I started rolling my eyeballs around, trying hard not to move my head too much, taking in as much as I could about the room’s condition. There were 2 long tables in front of me, one with a 45 inch LCD TV on it, and the other with a Dell laptop connected to the TV via cables. The table with the laptop was in a terrible mess. Stationeries were laying around, empty projector bags laid unzipped, and there were stacks of papers scattered around. To the left of the LCD TV was a double-sided whiteboard with words written in black ink. The wall behind those 2 tables was wallpapered with scenery of cloudy sky, in which there’s a hot-air balloon floating on the right. I didn’t care much about the back of the room.

After waiting for almost an hour, those people finally arrived, bad examples. We were briefed about the DiGi packages, the target we have to meet to get our commission, the rules and regulations, Dos and Don’ts and they reiterated. Gosh, they nagged worse than mommas, super long-winded. Then we surrendered our ICs to get it photocopied and signed the contract. And here we go again, the nagging continued for a little while more before the meeting was adjourned. Did I mention that we were all given notes about the new DiGi campus package to study? It’s worse than an exam, I haven’t even started.

To be Continued…

Just Nice

Tagged by Chloe :)

What a perfect timing! A happy tag when I’m down and blue.

The rules:

  • Link back to the person who tagged you.
  • List six little things that make you happy.
  • Tag six bloggers and let them know they’re “it”.

 

Six little things that make me happy; 

      • Leading others to a joyful day
      • Calls from employers
      • Hovering in those wonderful dreams of mine
      • Looking at babies
      • Occasions
      • Embrace

But most importantly, You. Search for it.

Thousandth Time

I’ve done this for God knows how many times already. But I see new questions!

The Rules:
1. Put your music player on shuffle.
2. Press forward for each question.
3. Use the song title as the answer to the question even if it doesn't make sense.
4. With the answers, give your own comments on how they relate to the questions.
5. Tag 10 people.

  • How are you feeling today?
    • Seventeen (Definitely not a guy’s feelings).
  • Will you get far in life?
    • Human.
  • What’s your best friend’s theme song?
    • Sober (Serious friends I have).
  • What is the story of your life?
    • Can’t Help But Wait (I wish there’s something that could stop me from waiting).
  • What was high school like?
    • Kenangan Terindah (Indeed! =)
  • How can you get ahead with life?
    • She Got Her Own
  • Whats the best thing about your friends?
    • Forever (That explains a lot!) =)
  • Describe your grandparents.
    • Can You Hear Me? (Isn’t this perfect? Hahaha~)
  • How’s your life going?
    • So Sick of Love Songs (Hey, I like them!)
  • What will be played at my funeral?
    • A Little Too Not Over You (Aww~ It’s okay).
  • Will you have a happy life?
    • Still Dirty (Thank God this song came out one question earlier!)
  • What do your friends really think of you?
    • Stranded (Is that so? Tell me!).
  • Do people secretly lust after you?
    • Let It Rock!
  • How can you make yourself happy?
    • Live (Live my life the way it is!)
  • What should you do with your life?
    • Change The World (Noble..).
  • Will you ever have children?
    • Turning Me On (It doesn’t).
  • What song would you strip to?
    • Teenagers (WOAH~)
  • What does your mom thinks of you?
    • Heartless (Hey! Not true, although I maybe at times but NO, I’m not!)
  • What is your deep, dark secret?
    • Bleeding Love (You wouldn’t know).
  • What is your enemy’s theme song?
    • Irreplaceable.
  • What’s your personality like?
    • That’s What You Get.
  • What will be played at your wedding?
    • The Call.

Victoria

Tired of waiting for someone/somebody/something to appear right before your doorstep on your birthday? Well, stop waiting because it’s not going to happen or maybe it might but stop expecting it to happen unless there’s someone who really cares for you in life! And I’m not implying about you, Edwin. =)

Birthday eve is one of the days in life I would like to sleep through. I see people fidgeting about, having insomnias, and getting all reclusive out of a sudden, thinking about the surprises they might get on their birthday. Isn’t that torturing? However, that merely happen to people who really think that birthdays are the most important/special day in their lives, and that includes a portion of myself. Obviously, that’s the bad part of knowing when exactly is your birthday.

The worse part of birthday is of course none other than the disappointment itself. No prezzies, no wishes, no cards, no cakes, no nothing, just like other ordinary days. Just when you are thinking of how bad it is to have a birthday like that, here comes the worst part to blast your aching heart into billions of pieces. Well, it is having to fantasize the previous night about the grandest birthday ever that’s going to be poured on you the minute you got out of bed, but only to find out that nobody actually did remember it’s your birthday!

But, not to worry much, July babies. I’m here to sincerely wish everyone of you Happy Birthday, belated, advanced or neither! As for the celebration part, I already did celebrate it on your behalves an hour ago at Victoria Station. The Cream of Broccoli and Shrimp soup was creamy and yummy that a bowl of it didn’t seem to be enough. The bread was steamy and soft and it tasted so good when served with melting butter. The sizzling steak I ordered was as delicious as ever even though it’s a little over-cooked. The dessert was the part I missed. So, I think we shall save the birthday-cake-cutting ceremony for another day. =)

Oh yea. Do you want to take a peek at my hot, sizzling beef steak? I took it with my 3.2 megapixel lousy N73 phone camera, so lucky you, it isn’t that delectable there.

There you go! =)

“Sailing” Difficulties

Disclaimer: What I’m about to write is all based on personal opinions and perceptions. It may not be necessarily true and it may offend some of you. The good news is you’re free to leave a comment(s) if you agree/disagree with what’s said. But I don’t think there’ll be any feedbacks because my readers are not used to communicating with me.

I have a lot in mind to brag about right now but definitely am not in the perfect mood, plus I have no idea how to get it started.

However, one thing’s for sure and obvious – I don’t update my blog that often as compared to the previous month where I went on a blogging berserk. The urge of blogging just died down for me. Besides that, I have something of utmost importance in hand and in mind to catch up with, to get busy with, and to kill time with. So I suppose that accounts to all the slack-blogging.

Forgiveness shall be given to me I guess, but is that a necessity? Don’t think so. I have the blog-whatever-and-whenever-I-want badge, so you got it whenever I update. No bugging!

***

The problem with friendships nowadays is that it wouldn’t last as long as those forged during ancient times. Back then, once a friend, always a friend, even though it’s an LDF a.k.a Long Distant Friendship, which means you don’t often meet your friend. You’ll definitely agree with me if you start reversing the time machine and go back into the past right now. Of course, there might be exclusive cases in which are not of my best concern right now.

Think. How close are you now with all your best friends in pre-school, primary school, or even secondary school? You might already have lost contact with them and have not seen them in ages. Which is quite a common thing because people go separate ways eventually as they graduate and don’t intend to meet up again. Even if you stumbled on them in supermarkets or in shopping centers, there’s a great possibility that you wouldn’t recognize them.

Even if you do recognize them, a little avoidance – hiding behind pillars and covering of face with an upside-down gossip magazine would do just fine. You think it’s bad? I see people doing that often. Firstly, he/she might pop all the bubbles in your face by not being able to recognize you. Secondly, there’s nothing to talk about in that supremely awkward situation aside from all the Ws and H questions you could think of because the fact is, both of you aren’t as close as you once were.

However, you could strike secondary school out because based on my experience, high school’s where you find your Paradise of True Friendships. There’s where you find a friend(s) who you could trust, share your deepest and darkest secrets with, and hang out comfortably with although you’ve not seen them for quite some time. At least it works for me that way. People begin to mature at this stage of life, the adolescent stage. Your personality, behavior or whatsoever begin to surface and people judge you by first impressions. What about college?

Unfortunately, nothing beats friendships forged in college. Not that college friends are more awesome than high school friends, no. And not that all college friends are not awesome, I meant some. Because of past experiences, people begin to understand the importance of first impressions. Everyday, before they step into the grounds of college, they put on a decent mask as if they were about to attend a masquerade or act in a soap opera. So much of that just to gain a large network of friends. It’s not surprising that friendships last the shortest in college. You may have someone as your best buddy this semester, but only to find out that someone is ignoring your every HIs and BYEs after only a month of miscommunication. Why are true friendships hard to come by?

***

Yesterday, I went out with a buddy from high school whom I’ve not seen in a year. It was an awesome outing because we had so much catching up to do. We chatted time away. An outing would be considered incomplete without hitting the cinemas, so we decided to catch a movie.  

I should be buying tickets for Transformers 2 already but since he’d watched it, we queued up for ‘State of Play’ instead and not ‘Ice Age 3’, ‘Drag me to Hell’ or whatsoever because I heard it’s a good movie and indeed it was. The intro was a tad too slow and boring I must say but as the story builds up, it makes the intro looks good because everything is interrelated and I find that very cool. But I still think it’s a risky act to bore your audience first before giving them the adrenaline rush. If it’s a must to have a self-explanatory intro, I suggest, do it like what Gavin Hood did in X-men origins.

Anyway, there we were queuing up before the counter when I stumbled upon this primary school friend of mine who was about to swift past my shoulders as he zig-zagged his way to the end of the short queue. Although I’ve lost communication with him for years, I somewhat called out for his name. Eventually, both of us reached out for each other’s hand naturally for a handshake and said our heys but his face had that blank or was it a shocked and blank look? All that happened in a split second.

You might have already noticed the contradiction made here but this one’s a different story. Because this old friend of mine is actually a friend of one of my closest friends as well and I see his pictures every now and then in her blog. So I felt like I’m still close to him even though I obviously am not anymore. Which explains why I didn’t do that little Indian dance/hide-and-seek around some coconut trees with him. I’m glad I made that move because it gave me a good laugh when he showed me that “what just happened/Hey but who are you” kinda expression.

After the movies, we had batting in mind and so we paid the Batting Cage a visit at Upper Roof. Sadly, it was drizzling and the cage was undergoing some form of construction. Bah … We crave batting! Maybe we should pay En. Zol a visit one day and ask for a fair game of softball instead. I would definitely be the pitcher again. *Missing those proud moments*

Till we meet again. =)

- Sean.

The Pencil

Before I hit the hay sack the night before, I realized something seemed to be amiss because the night was still at its dawn. I wondered for quite some time before concluding that today is going to be a big day for me. A really gigantic humongous one that is definitely going to freak the hell out of me and that I’m bound to be tormented until I beg for mercy/pee in my pants. *works the same*

Thinking of that, I couldn’t stop shivering with fear. With my teeth chattering and my legs weak and numb, I prostrated myself on that heated bed of mine, not being able to move another inch till morning. I swear I was literally frozen inside out despite the hot surroundings and the layers of comforters being laid on me. At the same time, I had an insomnia attack, which I thankfully recovered from it moments later.

This morning, I was awaken by a huge jolt. When I say HUGE, I really do mean it. It’s not a usual slight jolt on your shoulders when your mom wakes you up in the morning or a nudge you get when your irritated maid screams you out of bed. It’s a rather unimaginable and an illogical one. Yes, my teeny cubicle was struck by a magnitude 5 earthquake that threw me out of bed. I landed on the ground with a stud. Ouch!

A few minutes of jam-driving brought me to HELP at around 8.30 in the morning and there, I could finally breathe. The freshness of the morning air had gotten me fully awake and I was all set to roll. Frankly, 2 and a half hours of Linear Algebra revision right before the paper at 12 wasn’t at any bit adequate! By 11, revision wasn’t done and with the air-con blowing towards me, just made things worse as I started to panic!

I almost went unconscious when the question paper was flipped open as the clocks on the wall ticked 12. Before I could even catch a breath, I was swiftly taken off the ground. I worked my ass off for the next 2 hours although I was suffocating. The tension-filled room tighten the grip on my neck that it almost broke my spinal into two.

Now that everything’s over, I could finally take a break!

- Pencil

Hope you get this post. =)

Craving For More!

Some mammals especially the grown ups, just complain too much, talk more than necessary at inappropriate times, bombard questions excessively and incessantly at times, and set hellish restrictions on you uncontrollably. And I’m speaking of the mammals we see everyday, from dawn to dusk. How hard you pray you weren’t there or better still, invisible when all that happen. Wouldn’t that then make world a better place to live in and reality more pleasant than before?

I’ve not been blogging very often this month unlike previously. Thoughts have been kept close to my heart and have not been expressed wildly. Maybe it’s because I’m still not at the end of my tether just yet, seeing that the number of subjects I’m taking this semester isn’t at any bit stressful at all. So thoughts, hide like you have agoraphobia! Never come out you shall until I say so. Hah!

6 days ago on a Friday evening, me and 5 others - Chloe, Aaron Choi, Calv, Riz, and Matthew Cher were having dinner at Nirvana in Bangsar before heading to Jalan Solaris for some Haagen Daz yummy-licious ice-cream! It wasn’t a perfect planning but all went quite well aside from the slight delay of time, which granted us only 2 short hours for ice-cream. 

 

Anyways, we were supposed to meet up at 6.30 but people started showing up only an hour later. Poor Calv and Matthew who were there an hour earlier had to wait hell long for us, sorry. My first experience at Nirvana was screwed up because I had to restrain from ordering meself a hearty meal! I had to save some space for ice-cream yo! After dinner, Matthew left us for church. And 3 others – Edwin, Peter, and Eka joined in shortly after he left! =) So, 6-1+3 equals 8 of us!

Upon arriving at Soho KL, the Paradise of ice-cream, dessert, and buffet, I was surprised at the sight of the number of people in the double-decker teeny-weeny shop. I expected a larger shop and way more people to be there, sitting in couples or groups, savoring every spoonful of ice-cream as it melts in their already salivating mouth. *drool*

Because of the LIMITED time we had, we were kinda in an ice-cream race as we competed among ourselves for the most scoops of ice-cream eaten. Sitting a few steps away from the counter just made everything much more easier and faster. Unfortunately, nothing could be done to speed our metabolism rate up for more ice-cream! We were in desperate NEED of empty stomachs, or at least, I was!

You can already imagine that at some point, we weren’t actually indulging ourselves with those sweet stuff, but were literally forcing them in, especially during the final call. Struggling to make our money worth that night wasn’t a good idea at all because our stomachs failed on us! Bad tummy, bad tummy. We should have taken our dinner earlier, then we would have more time for the ice-cream, no?

Anyways, the ice-cream was delicious, BEYOND delicious to be exact. They have a wide variety of flavors, comprising of Macadamia Nuts (My favorite), Mango Sorbet, Mango & Passion Fruit, Strawberry, Strawberry Cheesecake, Tiramisu, Rum Raisin, Vanilla, Chocolate Chocolate Chip, Coffee, Green Tea, Raspberry, and a few more. You can eat till you drop/puke for just RM34 people and STAY for as long as you want! That’s considered dirt cheap if you are an ice-cream fan. =)

Nice, nice, yummy, yummy ice-creamsss!

So, don’t go FFK-ing me at the last minute next time, you know who you are! As the saying goes, the more the merrier! I hope the next outing would be better!

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