What do you think about this blog?

Feel free to give suggestions and comments *wink wink*

Do we all have to go through the process?

A friend of my just asked me on msn:

Why people have to go through life all the same way, grow up > study > graduate > find work > work > work some more > earn enough money > kahwin > mau anak/tak mau anak > continue working > and on and on and on... and yes... many people said they do find something DIFFERENT to do to get away from the dreaded life route... i'm sure that each of us sent here for a mission to complete... but what is mine har??

Err... I have no idea of what's my mission in this world, honestly. I don't actually believe in the so-called "mission-driven" theory of life. If we do have a mission, then where's our commander? Ha. Don't gimme that what "God's the commander" funny answer la ok... In my own opinion, those things are beyond our [or at least my] comprehensibility, and for that, I truthfully accept my incapability as a human being. [Sorry if I sound morally/religiously incorrect. But C'mon... don't tell me you've never farted secretly in the public? Or, you've never questioned your girlfriend's loyalty?]

You're correct. Many people are living their life according to the path that you think you're going to take. We grow up, we go school, we go university, we try to graduate with a damn good result in the hope of getting a high paid job in the future, then we work, we earn money, we start to search for partner, we break up and find another partner again [if you know anybody who's skipped this step, please lemme know], we marry, we make babies, we work and work and work again to afford the babies, we wait for the babies to get older and to be able to work and afford us back, and we just continue eating and sleepping and laughing [hopefully] and eventually we die with the hope that our children will remember us, or that they'll continue the bloody cycle to create another bloody endless cycles.




So, that's it? Our life?




Well, there's a say:
"A person has to spend his/her entire life to find the meaning of his/her existence."


Oh really?


Then I don't bother to find mine haha
It sounds like sitting for my math paper. Everytime when I'm about the get the answer for the question with the highest marks, the examiner is already standing beside me waiting for me to handover my sheets.

*kua kua kua*


Hm... maybe my working life has somehow affected my way of formulating the answer for this question.

Life's getting dull? Not really.

Well it's just that when our days are filled with the things that we need to do, we tend to forget about this worldly question.

My biological clock has started to constantly remind my brain of the invisible schedule, and that -
"You are running out of time! Just do what you want to do!"


My way of doing something different?
"Blogging", probably. :P



My blog serves as a reminder for me to not becoming dull but to stay 'normal' with the introduction of my professional life. [I don't think a programmer is ever normal lo hehe]


So, my idea now is -

Just do whatever you think you want to do.



Hehe.
So simple ho?

Ops... I just sounded like a nobody on the street. [Oh no~ i don't wanna be like that!]


*What do you think?

Family vs Work

When I was a very little kid, I'd sit by the house's door everyday as the sun started to set, waiting for my family members to come home from work. I'd wait for them with the hope that they'd bring back something for me e.g. new toys or food. Well... it's not about the toys and the food or stuffs actually, it's because I've grown tired of talking to my TV when they were not around.

When they were late, as a small kid, I'd think to myself -
"Why they have to work for so long? Have they forgotten about me?"


When I grew older, I started to pay lesser care. I didn't really care about when they'd come home as I started to get busy of my own stuffs. The only moment I thought about them was when my classmate told me that his father was planning for a family vacation. At that time, I'd think to myself again -
"Since dad's worked so hard, why can he take us out for a vacation? Is working really that important than family?"


When I got into private university, I lived outside, and I only came back home once a week. When I wasn't at home, I'd secretly go out with my friends and have fun until midnight, because I expected them to know nothing about it hehe *evil grin* [well actually they did] Anyway, I met with my family members less frequently. Not to mention the care I put on them. Then there's once my mom asked me:
"Wha? Do you care if they come back from work at midnight?"
Sarcastically, I'd reply: "No. Because I think they should have known which one is more important..."



When I got back from work today, my lil sister popped at me and asked:
"Why you work until so late? Cannot come back early? Have you forgotten about me?"

Immediately I recalled those moments when I asked my family members the same question.



Now I understand how they felt at that point of time.
I myself can't even answer it right now

-_-



*How do you maintain the balance in your life when you're in your first job?

You're from IT department? Oh I'm so sorry~

Me: "Hi... :)"

She: "Hi... :)" *handing over the documents*

Me: "hm... your... official receipt?"

She: "Oh .... ya... here" *flipping through her files and finally found it*

Me: "Ok... this is for you..." *Signed the forms and gave her a card with "cashless solution" printed on it.*

She: "Thanks... but what's this card for?"

Me: "Well... Actually I'm not sure also. Probably it's a card you can use to buy somethin..."

She: "Ha?? Hahahaha..... wow ok.... BHhuhuAHUHhahauha...." laughing wildly while leaving the counter.


-_-'''


I didn't even know what exactly I gave her :P

Can't believe the things I did on my first day of job as a Web programmer. I actually helped the new students to register themselves with the university. I thought I'm supposed to code on my first day. Ha!
Some even mistaken me for a staff from Registry department -_-

Annual Event with Cempedak, Dukong & Rambutan

I sold fruits by the roadside today -

Can't believe I did this again this year. It's almost like a yearly 'event'!
Well, somebody has to answer the call when the trees in my grandpa's garden start to fruit -_-
It's not really fun selling things in the rain lo :P

Dukong

Cempedak

Rambutan

The professional - my grandpa

Those are not for sell. What are those?? You guess! Haha

10 things You shouldn't do [or being caught doing] on the Train

I went out today, and I took KTM.
I saw what you were doing over there, and I really wanna ask you something. I bet everybody on the train must have wanted to ask you the same thing--

How could you SNORE sooooo LOUD while having everybody on the train looking at and listening to you???



Gosh... that's so embarassing ok!


10 Things You shouldn't do [or being caught doing] on KTM:

1. Snoring loudly, of course.
2. Talking loudly to your phone. Especially, when you know you are going to swear a lot
3. Digging your nose [eww..... Trust me. I've seen it before]
4. Biting your nails, and spitting the nails in your mouth without proper navigation and directions.
5. Playing your Mp3 too loud that everybody on the train knows you like KORN. We know you have put on your headphone, but we have not.
6. Peeking at what others' reading / reading what other people's holding. I feel uncertain when I'm about to flip to the next page :P
7. Sleeping so sound that your head is moving like how your car's wipers move. Nobody wants to simply lend you his/her shoulder.
8. Smoking!!! You know you're not allowed to do so but you still wanna do it! Why???
   
9. Standing on your smelly feet!!! Wash them before you get onto the train or please don't wear slippers. Please don't stand besides me because I really don't want people to think me as the possible owner of your smelly feet. Besides, your feet makes things worst when it's already so packed.
   
10. Using outdated ticket, and still trying to talk the conductor / ticket-checker out when you get caught. You are cheating yourself. Haha
    

I've seen all of them on the train. Have you seen any?

A penny saved today is NOT exactly a penny earned tomorrow

Mr CEO says, a penny saved today is a penny earned tomorrow.


But what if the value of Malaysia Ringgit drop tomorrow?


For example, you save RM1.00 today. And that RM1.00 is equals to US$0.28 today.
When the value of RM1.00 drop to US$0.20 tomorrow, you'll still have RM1.00, but you can only buy an ordinary apple instead of a Fuji Apple.

The point is, you can buy a Fuji if you spend that RM1.00 today.


A penny saved today doesn't always mean you'll still have that same one penny tomorrow.


Did I get it right?

Everybody is trying to be Chicken?

The chicken my grandma reared knew he [maybe he's a she. The way he pees doesn't clearly indicate his gender. Ops! I forgot. Chicken doesn't pee :P] was going down to hell when my grandma & mom decided to have traditional Chinese herbal chicken soup tonight. The chicken got all chicken, and started to rant his vitriol onto me [who happened to be the one serving his last meal].


Chicken: "It's just so unfair!"

Me: "Ok... why?"

Chicken: "I don't know. I just think it's unfair for us chickens. You see, among all the domestic animals, why there are only ducks, cows, piglets, goats and etc and chickens like us being consumed by you human on your dinner table? How about cats? Dogs? Hot-dog is not counted because i know it's not 'dog' even though I've never tried it before..."

Me: "Em... Some people from Vietnam do eat cats & dogs I guess."

Chicken: "That's different! They don't breed cats or dogs like the way they breed us! We are like... born to be the source of protein for humans per se! You tell me, isn't that unfair?"

Me: "I don't know... maybe you should ask God."

Chicken: "Ok I'll try. Anyway, I really wish I were a cat that only knows how to sleep and play and enjoy being pampered and being cuddled by humans and..."


Before he finished his sentence, he's being grabbed and taken out of his small container by my mom. My dinner was in making.

******

I laid down on my bed after the dinner, thinking about the conversation that took place this morning. While trying to get the points the Chicken made, I got so sleepy that I finally decided to close my eyes for a moment. Then I saw the Chicken with a halo on his head.


Me: "Hey wassup. Have you met God?"

Chicken: "Ya I just did. I actually asked him the question i asked you this morning."

Me: "Wow that's good! What He said?"

Chicken: "[adjusted his tone and trying to sound like the Almighty]
You only need to eat and sleep and have sex [to produce eggs] for the rest of your life before you wait for your turn to die! Do you call that unfair when everybody in this world is trying to retire early to be just like you? What's so unfair???"

Me: "..."



Are you trying to be like the Chicken? Or, are you a chicken already?
Oh my~

A letter from Mom

Dear son,

I don't really know what you've been up to recently. All that you've been doing is just sticking your eyes to your screen. What are you watching? [just forgive momma if momma hurt your feeling]

I just couldn't stand looking at you sometimes. You see your one-year-older cousin? He's been talking about visions, chatting about businesses and worldly issues, planning to buy a car, bringing back girlfriend and thinking of earning more money by working [i know you have your own 'unique' idea to earn money] and... and WHATEVER he's been doing.

But, look at you.

You just told me that you might wanna get a Chihuahua in the future?

With love & with expectation,
Mom

50 years of independence

Grandma went to hospital for her second check-up after the cataract surgery.

There are seats placed in front of each doctor's room, and we can roughly tell which patient is going to see which doctor by looking at where the patient sits. Before my aunt told me, I wasn't aware that there's always more Chinese patients sitting in front of Chinese doctors' doors.

"... Hmm... are you guys going to see this... 'Dr Mazidah'?? " asked one Chinese middle-aged auntie to my aunt.

"Ya. (o.o)?"

"... but why would you wanna see a Malay? There're lots of other [chinese] doctors here!"

"My mother has been seeing her for a good 4 years and everythin's been fine. What's wrong?"

"......"

They stared at us with puzzles when we went into and out of the door, as if they really didn't understand why.

There's once a Chinese doctor asked my aunt to transfer my grandma from Dr Mazidah to become under him. His reason was kinda bizarre:
"Why you wanna see a Malay [doctor]?"

How could a doctor [in Malaysia] possibly say that?

I guess something still remains the same even after 50 years of independence. Haha.



I've been busy these few days watching movies at home, shopping for formal clothes & doing chores e.g. car washing. Speaking of shopping for my work clothes, I got kinda exhausted as looking for nice sets of formal wear in ALL BLACK [yes i have to wear all black for work] in a reasonable price range [sigh~ I'm not rich either] is not as easy as it seems -_- Anyway, I'm hoping to get a white belt. A touch of white in all black, should be nice ho?

Just got myself a ring--a stainless steel ring! :P
While everybody was asking me about the price and the stuffs, my sis seems to have given attention to the wrong thing:

"Bro, why you wear your ring on your ring finger?"

"Err... why not?"

"What if you and your gf bought new rings?"

"... we have 2 ring fingers, right?"

"oh ya ho~~"


*kua kua kua*

(-_-)

Close to employed

Yay I'm close to getting a job! Finally, they decided to accept me :D

Been to LimKokWing today to fill-in a form for the HR department to issue my offer letter. Probably in next week it'll be out and I'll have to go and collect it.

So...

My salary is the same as what I put in my resume sent to them (^-^)''' I'm waiting for it to raise after 3 months of probation :P [Hopefully things will happen as expected]

"I read your blog. Nice picture of the campus..."

Really have no idea how Sue (the staff) knew about my blog here (o_0)
Probably she used google, or they actually install somethin like Technorati on their website [just like mine]

Anyway, if Sue you are reading this right now, thank you :P *wink wink*

[lesson learnt: you'd better be good to your boss on your blog muahaha]

I drove today, and I [not I per se, I think everybody on the same road as well] realised that I have a problem driving on multi-lanes. I'd drive like how a fly flies when there's no salient white lines on the road.

I don't know... I just couldn't figure out where to go without the lines haha

Maybe I need something like a auto-sensor that tells the car to follow the correct path--That's right! That certainly helps to reduce my mental calisthenics during driving :D






But then my car would be not different from a train.






True as well (-_-)

Life is short

We feel difficult seeing the people we care behave in ways which we think are inappropriate, and probably, wrong.


As a way to mend his sadness, George got addicted to sex after his father's dead.
Your friend decided to divorce her husband because she believes that it's his fault they lost 9-month-old Annie.
Your cousin decided to not going to university, but instead, to work in a pet shop in Sungai Wang.
Old uncle John, your old neighbour, just couldn't stop taking sweets even though he knows he's got high blood sugar.


You'd try to fix them, wouldn't you?


You'd ask George to stop paralyzing himself by having sex his girlfriend.
You'd talk your friend out of divorcing his husband by explaining to her that it's not his fault.
You'd advise your cousin to continue study in university because you think that's the best decision and she certainly has to take that choice as she's still too young for making that decision.
You'd start controlling Uncle John's diet because you think he's killing himself.


But NO.
You wouldn't.


George is now lying in hospital after a severe car accidence.
Your friend was diagnosed with level 4 breast cancer today.
Your cousin's attempt to commit suicide failed yesterday and now she's in coma.
And, you've just found out that Uncle John is now a Alzheimer's disease sufferer.


All of them are going to leave you next month.


"Life is short. Just do whatever you like. We just want you to be happy," you'd say.

Life is short.

LIFE - IS - SHORT.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

So, life is long before those bad things happen?

DECAdry

I found it in the shop on the day we moved. It's kinda wasting to send it directly into the bin so i think i'd just keep this wonderful stuff. I don't know what it's called actually. So I'll just demonstrate to you how to use it :P [I just found out how to use it recently]

This is that bunch of wonderful stuff! Have u seen them before?

A piece of them.

It's actually a film-like kinda stuff. There are alphabets and symbols printed on it.

A close-up.

And it's made in Belgium somemore!

Okie! So now, you need the following stuffs:

A piece of paper, the THING, and a pen [or somethin with a point that you can poke your eyes]

Now, you need to think about a word you like. For example, I like my name--Max. Then, write it down on the piece of paper. Just remember how to spell the word if you don't wanna write it down.

It's now time to find the alphabets on the thing.

M...

... A ...

... X! That's it!

Now, put the thing on top of the paper, and position the alphabet, e.g. M, on the paper.

By using your pen's point, try to press the alphabet against the paper. Rub and press the alphabet using the point like you're writing that alphabet on the paper or you're trying to get a chilli sauce stain out of your shirt.

Rub, rub, rub...

Again. Rub, rub, rub...

And FINALLY, when you think your pen almost wanna pierce through the thing, take off the thing and have a look!

That's it! The alphabet is printed on the paper! My M is now on the paper! [albeit it looks handicapped :(]

See the usage of that thing?

Lemme try another one...

I want an A...

Rub again...

There it is! Another one...

This time, it's X.

Ahah! My name!

Mayb i should add somethin...

How bout this?

Tadah~!!!!

My aunt said it's some kinda printer to print words beautifully on paper without using a computer. Err.... i like my lap and epson printer so much.

DECAdry?? Dono if it's the name or the brand name. watever... RM3.30. Quite cheap hor?

Still not enough.

Now that's enough.

Update: It's called Transfers Catalogue. Thanks Michelle for doing the searching :P

Malaysian Tax [Part I]

Since i'm reading about money and investment and also about robert kiyosaki [well you know i don't usually do that], i think it would be wise for me to get to know or, ideally, to make myself clear on the things that i've been avoiding. Yes. I'm talking about taxes here. TAX--the apparent source of complaints saying how government has been devouring part of our salary silently. Well, I don't know if it's true or not as i didn't really give a damn before this.

Ok.

What's 'tax', anyway? What? Tax also dono a? Of course i know la, but not in an accurate and more specific way. According to wikipedia [ehehe i can't live without wiki i guess],

"A tax is a financial charge or other levy imposed on an individual or a legal entity by a state or a functional equivalent of a state (for example, tribes, secessionist movements or revolutionary movements),"

which means, that a tax is a charge or a value (in any form) we pay to a legal function. In our case, the tax is our income tax and other whatsoever types of taxes, while the legal function is our government.

"A tax may be defined as a pecuniary burden laid upon individuals or property to support the government..."

-_- Don't know who came out with that definition on Wikipedia. I bet you're nodding your head to this definition right now.

"A tax is not a voluntary payment or donation, but an enforced contribution, exacted pursuant to legislative authority" and is "any contribution imposed by government... whether under the name of toll, tribute, tallage, gabel, impost, duty, custom, excise, subsidy, aid, supply, or other name."

This definition emphasizes the differentce between taxes and other forms of contribution we can made to the authority. Tax is something set by the law and act.

Well. That's enough from the US. I think we need somethin local.

I searched through google and I found that there's actually a website setup by the government for the agency that's responsible for the administration of the taxation in Malaysia. The agency is called Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri Malaysia, or in English, Inland Revenue Board Malaysia (in short, IRB). The board is now administering the direct taxes under a list of acts. In other words, the real entity that we are dealing with is the IRB in the Ministry of Finance.

So. Back to the topic of definition. I read through ALL the web pages in the websites but i couldn't find any trace regarding the definition of tax in the context of Malaysian [ha? weird ho?]. So i thought maybe I can find somethin from the acts that IRB is enforcing. Generally, there are 6 acts governing the taxing:

1. Income Tax Act 1967
2. Petroleum (Income Tax) Act 1967
3. Real Property Gains Tax Act 1976
4. Promotion of Investment Act 1986
5. Stamp Act 1949
6. Labuan Offshore Business Activity Tax Act 1990

Among all of them, the Income Tax Act 1967 is the most important for me/us (not to say "most important", but it's the "main" act and the others are supplementary). Funny enough, i couldn't even get the act from the website itself without problems (shame on you, for the lousy website service). I tried my luck with google again, and eventually I found it, but it's a Income Tax Act 1967 Reprint. I don't know if they put the whole act online because some sections are blank. Anyway, that's better than THAT website lo -_-

Subject and in accordance with this Act, a tax to be known as income tax shall be charged for each year of assessment upon the income of any person accruing in or derived from Malaysia or received in Malaysia from outside Malaysia.

Every Malaysian is charged with a tax called Income tax every year according to their incomes earned in either homeland or oversea. The IRB and the act state that all incomes of individuals and companies are subjected to income tax. All Malaysians? really? And, what's considered as an income that's eligible to be taxed?

Well, a taxpayer, or a person who's liable to tax, MUST BE a resident of Malaysia, OR, a person who has stayed in Malaysia for at least 182 days (either consecutive or not). Obviously I AM eligible and my scope of taxation would be under Resident Individual. But the thing is, i don't have any income yet! How am I going to be taxed?

Of course, you'd not be taxed unless you have incomes of any of the following sorts:

• gains or profits from a business for whatever period of time carried on
• Gains or profits from an employment
• Dividends, Interests or Discounts
• Rents, Royalties or Premiums
• Pensions, annuities or other periodical payments not falling under any of the foregoing paragraphes
• gains or profits not falling under any of the foregoing paragraphs
• Special classes of income

Since I'll be employed and become and employee, my income will mostly be of the Employment Income. Employment Income includes not just the salary, but also remunerations, leave pay, commission, bonus and all kinds of benefits or allowances, and they are OUGHT TO BE TAXED. What? All the things that my company's giving me e.g. cars, household furnishings, handphone, fuel allowance, club med memberships, living accommodation will be charged also? Yes. They are not really free actually -_-

It sounds like we are being taxed for almost EVERYTHING, right? Not really. There are things that we can deduct from our gross income. For example, gift of money to government or approved institution [ha? rasuah?], gift of any form for health care facility, National or any State Air Gallery, libraries and the disabled. Also, your medical and dental benefit, retirement gratuity, leave passages, compensation for loss of employment, pensions, scholarships, interest that accrues in respect of money deposited with Bank Simpanan Nasional [ha? like that also can?] and etc etc can be excluded from taxing if they satisfy certain conditions.

So, now that I've known I'm going to be taxed, and the things that I'm going to be charged. But... now what? What i gonna do next?

I also don't know. I mean, I don't know YET. I'm so sleepy so I think I'd blog about that in the upcoming post :P

Extreme photoshoper | Toothless

(o.0) It's crazier than I thought! I really shouldn't take every single photo in the fashion magazines seriously -_- But, I'll take my job as a photoshoper more seriously from now on ehehehe. Well honestly I'm not like super good [not even in "good" category i guess] ... but i really like to do photoshop. It has somehow turned into an unhealthy habit of mine because I'd tried to photoshop every single piece of my personnal photos e.g. my sister's potrait. But the truth is, I'm not using Photoshop, but some other software :P

Personally i think they look good. The skin just looks perfect!

"That's so fake lo.." said my sister.

I used to think like that too... but Who cares, right? It's the first impression that matters. Nobody wants to look at huge pimples lo... I mean, who really can sleep at least 8 hours, workout 1 hour, eat healthy food for all three meals, use expensive facial care product e.g. SK II, and not to let pressure create wrinkles on their face everyday? [Beauty queens and rich celebrities are not included, of course]

"My job is to look good"--that's what they'd normally say when reporters asked them why they look so good. How weird.

Is there a job to look ugly a? Hehe. [What am i talking about ^-^''']

Just caught some real funny moments:

My auntie is quite cute sometimes. In her eyes, I'll always be her 3-year-old nephew -_-