Taking the Bus..

Taking the bus is like tossing a coin into the air and see which side it will fall on: head or tails. If you are lucky, you will get the seat on the right side (in line with the driver) and next to the window. It's a case of slight superstition for me: i keep saying to myself that should I get that seat, then it will be one wonderful day today. Childish isn't it?

Living outside the town area, means a 30 minutes of seating inside the bus before reaching the bus terminal. Wait for the first bus at 6.30am. Waking up early, I like to catch up with my sleep on the bus and that explains a lot on the choice of seats. If I sit at the aisle, I might nod off and put my head on the person next to me. I will end up apologizing and blushing like mad. Ooh..I do hate that when it happens. Sitting next to the window is better, my head will only rest on the window screen.

If you take the same bus as me, you will learn very early that the law of the jungle applies here. Chacun pour soi! Why? You are traveling with hundreds..no..erase that..you are traveling with a bunch of noisy school kids. No matter if you are an aged person or a small kid.. no standing in line or letting the elders go in first. It's a fight to get the best seat. Seriously, there's no fun in standing in a 'sardine' packed bus especially when you are a small size person.

The trip back from work is better as no school children around (it's 7.00pm). People are more relaxed, tired but happy to go home. Just one advice: Pray that there's many empty seat or that a woman is seating beside you. Then you can continue with the morning session nap. :) With a guy.sitting next to you...it's a 50-50 situation. If he falls asleep , then all is well. Just watch out for the chatty type.. asking you on the time, on the weather, your name and etc..etc..

Why don't I  get a car? Well..I do not know how to drive.. :) .. and that will be a long, long story to tell you..

Reading Between The Lines

Why is it so hard when it comes to the affairs of the heart?
It might probably be due to you can never be sure of anything when it comes to feelings. You are afraid of over analyzing things.

The instances when that special someone goes out of her way to help you out. The times when she is being nice to you. You started to think that usually people do not give you wristbands just for hitting a ball or ask if you would like to practice your swings early in the morning..if there was no feeling involved, right? You just cannot help wondering why she's doing all those things for you.

Sometimes, you just can't help being a little hopeful. When it comes to someone you like, every little thing that he/she does weighs on your mind. You tend to interpret things to suit yourself.

'Do you think he/she did this because of that?'
'Do you think he/she meant that when he/she says this?'

Well, it could be true and it could be wrong too. There's the danger of turning yourself into a delusional person. When you stop focusing on yourself and start observing, it might be that the person treats everyone the same way as he/she treats you.

But there's no reason to feel depressed about it too. Right now, you might be at the same level as everyone else. If you can get him/her to show you a side of themselves that he/she never show anyone else, then you got a chance.

A Link To The Past

Why do you need to keep a diary?

Some people say that diaries are for teenagers and those who are considered as teacher's pet. The ones who wrote diaries, are those who sits in front in a classroom, nearest to the teacher and the blackboard. A diary is for the A-student who follows everything according to the rules. A, B, C, D ..till Z. There's no skipping an alphabet at all. And she was not one of them.

Oh yeah? Quite surprising..she did think that she was quite an angel in those days..well except for a few occasions (maybe..a bit more than that, depending on her mood). Grinning.

Well, those diaries are a link to her past. If she needs to depend on her memory, there will be a lot that she might have forgotten, lost in the maze of her mind as she gets older. A diary helps her to look at her life from a different perspective. Helps her to understand when a certain event marks the changes in her life. A diary also helps to make her more observant of the things that happens around her. Times and memories that are not to be lost.

Imagine, meeting your friends during a class reunion, and reading one of those diaries, sharing the time when we were studying far so late in the night, afraid of failing the final exam or the fond memories of silly things that we did just to get the attention of the head of the class... :p April Fool tricks that we played on each other and even the sadness that we all had felt when a few of us didn't get to further our studies together in the later years. Diaries teach us also to fret less and to smell the roses as we hurry down the long road of life.

Or, if you managed to stay with your loved one till old age (Que Sera Sera), just imagine sitting and reading about a particularly beautiful sunset where eyes got misty by certain endearing words and a hand that is dear is held.

Then getting to a page where things were not so rosy, when money was an issue and sleep was hard to achieve as worries took over, wondering about bills. Just imagine sharing back those times of worry and happiness again. How to remember again the aspirations and despair of those years without a diary? Memories are a feeble thing.

Every human life is a free fall in time. Her diary would not be important to anyone else. Just bits of things that happen in newspapers, events in the country that effects or touches her concern.. but mostly it's about her life and thoughts. Just a record of who she is (how and why :) so that those who come after will know where she comes from. One of the items in her time capsule.

Those blank pages in a diary can become your dearest friend, waiting for you to say whatever you wish to say, then be tucked away, locked and silent till the right moment comes.

One Good Deed

He almost didn't see the old lady, stranded on the side of the road, but even in the dim light of day, he could see she needed help. So he pulled up in front of her Mercedes and got out. His Pontiac was still sputtering when he approached her. Even with the smile on his face, she was worried. No one had stopped to help for the last hour or so .. was he going to hurt her? He didn't look safe; he looked poor and hungry.

He could see that she was frightened, standing out there in the cold. He knew how she felt. It was that chill which only fear can put in you. He said, "I'm here to help you, ma'am. Why don't you wait in the car where it's warm? By the way, my name is Bryan Anderson."

Well, all she had was a flat tire, but for an old lady, that was bad enough. Bryan crawled under the car looking for a place to put the jack, skinning his knuckles a time or two. Soon he was able to change the tire.

But he had to get dirty and his hands hurt. As he was tightening up the lug nuts, she rolled down the window and began to talk to him. She told him that she was from St. Louis and was only just passing through. She couldn't thank him enough for coming to her aid. Bryan just smiled as he closed her trunk. The lady asked how much she owed him.

Any amount would have been all right with her. She already imagined all the awful things that could have happened had he not stopped. Bryan never thought twice about being paid. This was not a job to him. This was helping someone in need, and! God knows there were plenty who had given him a hand in the past. He had lived his whole life that way, and it never occurred to him to act any other way.

He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give that person the assistance they needed, and Bryan added, "And think of me."

He waited until she started her car and drove off. It had been a cold and depressing day, but he felt good as he headed for home, disappearing into the twilight.

A few miles down the road the lady saw a small cafe. She went in to grab bite to eat, and take the chill off before she made the last leg of her trip home. It was a dingy looking restaurant. Outside were two old gas pumps. The whole scene was unfamiliar to her. The waitress came over and brought a clean towel to wipe her! wet hair. she had a sweet smile, one that even being on her feet for the whole day couldn't erase.

The lady noticed the waitress was nearly eight months pregnant, but she never let the strain and aches change her attitude. The old lady wondered how someone who had so little could be so giving to a stranger. Then she remembered Bryan.

After the lady finished her meal, she paid with a hundred dollar bill. The waitress quickly went to get change for her hundred dollar bill, but the old lady had slipped right out the door. She was gone by the time the waitress came back. The waitress wondered where the lady could be.

Then she noticed something written on the napkin. There were tears in her eyes when she read what the lady wrote: "You don't owe me anything. I have been there too.
Somebody once helped me out, the way I'm helping you. If you really want to pay me back, here is what you do: Do not let this chain of love end with you." Under the napkin were four more $100 bills.

Well, there were tables to clear, sugar bowls to fill, and people to serve, but the waitress made it through another day.

That night when she got home from work and climbed into bed, she was thinking about the money and what the lady had written. How could the lady have known how much she and her husband needed it? With the baby due next month, it was going to be hard..

She knew how worried her husband was, and as he lay sleeping next to her, she gave him a soft kiss and whispered soft and low, "Everything's gonna be all right. I love you, Bryan Anderson."

There is an old saying "What goes around comes around."

Skills & Studies

The Star (17 Nov 2009)
PhD holders jobless among thousands registered with portal
AT THE DEWAN RAKYAT

DOCTORATE holders are among those who registered with JobsMalaysia, a government portal to help graduates get jobs.

Deputy Human Resources Minis-ter Senator Datuk Maznah Mazlan said from the 69,760 job hunters who registered with the portal, 18 held doctorates, 1,165 had Masters degrees, 36,985 were Bachelor degree holders while 31,592 had diplomas.
As of last Friday, she added Universiti Teknologi Mara graduates topped the list from public universities with 12,768 applications.
This was followed by Universiti Utara Malaysia and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia with 4,151 and 2,943 applicants respectively.
The majority majored in business administration, electric, electronics and telecommunications engineering, mechanical and mechatronics engineering, accounts and pure sciences.

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The above news and another of a wheelchaired Year 6 Zaim Shafri who scored 4A's & 1B caught cat's attention. How can cat summarizes all this clearly?

School only help to prepare you academically. To achieve your dreams and to survive in the "real" world, you need to be "streetwise" also.
Seriously, you need a combination of both in life (unless you are really a genius or you are lucky).

*Academic: so that you would know facts or know where to dig it so that no one can make a fool out of you. You can be the smartest kid in your class, but when you graduate and enter the real world, there are others that are also top of their classes.
* Streetwise or street smart:
You are not the only person who scores perfect A's or B's. The competition will be heavy and academic is not the only criteria people will look at. It's also how you projected yourself. Why would they need to give you the job? What do you have to offer them besides your certificates? Your communication skills, your general knowledge, your stress and anger management..etc..etc. Dealing with people is certainly different than dealing with computers

So, equipped yourself also from now with other skills. Take your nose out from the book from time to time. Join your friends on outings, talk with other people other than your schoolmates, join any 'kenduri' at your area. Just go and mix around. Learn how to talk and listen to others. See how people interact. This will help you in the long run.

And.. have fun. "All study and no play makes Jake a dull person". Learn to take time to stop and smell the flowers. You are young only once. Don't concentrate 100% on studies. You can't turn back the time. ;)

Balance it well and Don't Give Up. You always miss 100% of the shots you don't take. Be strong ok.

Raya : Past vs Present

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri..

It may be a bit late but the wishes are still as warm as ever. They say that as Ramadhan is observe for a month, the celebration of the Eid is also extended for a month. As usual, the Eid brings back old memories...let's see what's the difference between the Eid of the past and the Eid of present.

Past : In the old days, a month before the actual sighting of the new moon (to determine the Eid), there were the rush to buy the bus and train tickets to 'Balik Kampung' or going back to your home town. There were news almost everyday of extra bus services will be provided and an advise not to buy the tickets from 'unknown sources'. The exodus always meant traffic jams.

Now : Today, there's a slight different to the scenario. While there are still the rush to go back to the hometown, there are many more who decided to remain in the cities during the Eid. Might be because most of the parents are now city people or they have decided to skip the traffic jam, spend the 1st and 2nd day raya in the city and only go back to their hometown after the rush has lessened.

Past : All the kuih and cookies were homemade. Neighbors competing with each other to see whoever makes the best tasting and delicate looking cookies. You would feel proud to see your cakes became a favorite among the visitors. Families gathered a few days before the Eid to stir the 'dodol', cook 'lemang' or make the 'ketupat'.

Now : With the busy working schedule, it has become a norm to just buy the raya cookies off the shelves. You would be lucky if you can bake one or 2 cookies on your own. Those who advertises their home made cookies, can certainly add extra income during the fasting month.

Past : All raya greeting cards must be posted 1 week before the Eid. Anything later than that will be sent to the recipient after the raya and will be stamp postage will be charged the same as normal letters (instead of the special raya card rate). And how nice it is to be surprised with such cute cards, which you can afterwards hang as deco on the walls.

Now : There's the raya e-card and last minute sms getting the phone lines choked up and messages getting queued. Some of the messages were even recycled messaged, cut and pasted.. :) and forwarded to others. You might even get your own greetings resent to your own self. Boomerang effect. :)

Those were the days. One more note to be put in archive.

Anger Management

No one is perfect.

Even the stars have flaws. And one of the flaws that humans have is : handling anger. Do you remember that Actor Mel Gibson was once charged for assaulting his wife. Smart, successful, respected and wonderful outward person might still have inside them a caged and repressed personality.

Temper: some people just can't control their anger , and turns it quickly into rage. That is what usually happens when a person do not know how to acknowledge his/her 'dark' side. Pretending that everything is ok and keeping everything inside until it explodes.

If you are one of those people, you should know that you are not alone. Every one of us have our own demons and dragons. These are our thoughts and emotions which prevents us from doing our best. It piles up, getting stronger each time, and till the bubble bursts, we then lashes out at people around us without thinking of the consequences.

You need to be in control of your anger and not let it be in control of you instead. How? Acknowledge the anger by saying to yourself 'I can be angry because...'. Think of the reason that justifies the anger. Use thoughts and not emotions. Chill.. you hurt more people when you lash out in anger and you can't imagine how deep the scar is.

Keeping a rock garden calms Kat. :) If Kat cannot have the sea nearby her, she brings the things that resemble the sea near to her. Sigh..how Kat longs to feel sand and the salty sea water under her feet.

The Kampung Style

Just before the Eid, Kat was doing her favorite free time activity : Window Shopping. :) A case of escaping for a few moment from the office and taking a look at the decorations at the Shopping Mall. Each time there's a national public holiday, you can bet that the ambiance will be superb.

This year, Kat chose Dataran Pahlawan deco as her favorite. Most people would say that it's quite bland compared to the previous years. But for Kat, it just suits her taste: simple and there's a VW there. Grin..

For someone without a 'kampung' to go back to, Kat just love to pretend that this is hers. :) The guard here knows Kat (because of seeing her face daily looking at the deco.. :p ouch). Here's a photo of the VW from the front.

An antique 'Vespa', quite hard to find nowadays. And in the background, there's the rattan chicken coop.