Being Blessed

Economy has slowed down, prices on daily needs are incredibly high, I find myself spending over RM350 a month on my own food versus just a mere RM200 before fuel prices mess things up.

Having a business of your own is a handful, and it’s starting to really drag me down. Money in the bank is being kept well…but because of the uncertainty of the economy, I’m keeping it all and not spending much really starts to get on my nerves. For those working in Government sure is having a better time I hope, having a stable income month by month, not having to worry about the next month not getting paid for.

Anyways, good luck to all of your expenses. I just spent over rm4000 on my ducati bike already. This month should be the last of my too-luxury spendings.
Amen! Gotta save for that other plan.

I don’t want to start a fuss but long before the ah kua were referred to as ah kua, they were referred to as pondan, and during those times, they are very unacceptable in our society today.

But after watching lots of Malaysian TV, I find that they are quite a number of acclaimed and famous actors or TV hosts are ah kuas or pondans, not to mention TV shows and movies that are highly popular and all strongly enforce that the idea of being an ah kua or pondan is a cool, a fresh idea, and something that everyone is opened with nowadays to the point where anyone can decide to be an ah kua if they feel they’re “born that way”.

Of course society and the “friendly” people of Malaysia are open minded about these things, but mainly the media has created an image where one of the ideology of Malaysians is this : “Ah kua is ok, pondan is ok. It’s ok to be one, it’s ok to make some of these people as role models. We need to put have more ak kuas in television. It sells.”

To me, it’s never fun to see a man acting so ladylike, even my girl friends are scared of them, and is not as girly as the ah kua or pondans are. They seem to be ladylike to the extreme. In my previous college, these kind are popping up more and more, and they are so open about this, they’d come up during daylight and strut their “stuff” all over the place, proudly showcasing their ah kua and pondan culture.

They’d even freak girls out by using the lady toilets, buying bras (and stuffing them with what I don’t want to know), buying lady underwear or lingerie, and lady clothes. I know I should be ignoring it, but how can you when their thong is sticking out their butt and their bras coming lose each time they walk?

I don’t know about you, but there are 2 genders only. Male and female. Ah kua or pondans shouldn’t exist. They say they’re born that way? I say, they are only born that way if they think they are. And I’m not talking about she-males or stuff like that either.

I’ve came to know some students who are like this in their universities, but funnily when they get back home to their villages or home town and when they’re around their family, they turn back to their normal gender. Funny how that works.

One word - very underpowered. The Ducati Monster 600 is an amazing beginner’s bike.

Yes, I bought it for the looks, and also the handling, fuel economy, and the practicality of the bike. But I’m really hoping for some top speed run from the bike, but the most I could do is a little above 100kmh to 120kmh without having to really twist the throttle.

Although it is air cooled (there is the reason for lack of power), my new bike came blessed with front and rear Brembo brakes, and those brakes boy, they’re really something. And rear suspension is adjustable Ohlin and I’ve never had something as special as this on my other previous motorcycle. Thanks to my previous owners…

It also came with twin carbon fiber exhaust from Yoshimura, and it makes some really good thumping noise from the L-Twin engine.

Tires are new too, rectifier also, and it cost me RM1300 and RM1700 respectively. But it’s well worth the money because I can ride with peace of mind.

Handling is it’s strongest point yet besides looking great. I’ve never ridden any bike so confidently and so highly flickable as this one. Cornering is so smooth and the new Bridgestone tires are really sticky, I smile every time I see a roundabout or a corner. Great times!

Fuel consumption is amazing. Without comparing to my friend’s Honda Cub. This bike tops at RM20 and can run about 200km or more. Pretty good compared to my Goldwing 1500 and Royal Star 1300 which costs twice as much.

The thing about this bike is the gearbox is a little rough, and it can miss gears pretty often, the worst thing is it misses gear even at neutral. For example, if you’re at the traffic light, make sure you hold on to your clutch and make sure the gear is set to neutral properly despite the indicator saying it’s already in neutral before letting go, or you might stall in traffic.

Secondly, when parked at neutral and when you turn off the bike, and when you get back on the bike (despite being neutral to begin with), the bike won’t start sometimes unless you hold on to the clutch and adjust it’s gears again.

But that’s the thing. If you want a precise machine, get Japanese or German. It’s made by robots and machines. But Italian and American machines, they tend to have more human touch.

This bike is pretty good. I’ll test it even more thoroughly even more when I travel 2000 miles to Sabah and back.

In my perspective, my newly opened laundry shop seems to be taking bad reps from customers, mostly from university students. I am really concerned that my business will suffer for it. But God is great, and I trust in God, and He will do the rest.

FYI, lots of students are really good and nice and polite and all, and we love them for that, and God bless their sweet little hearts for it. But there are a few terrible trouble makers trying to find fault out of thin air.

Here are some of their ridiculous complaints:

Motor Oil Mishaps
After 3 days of taking back his clothes, he decided (3 days later) to ask his friend to take his clothes and bring it to us and complain that we got motor oil spilled all over his clothes. First of all, we do not have motor oil anywhere around the shop, and secondly, before we washed his clothes there were already motor oil stainds on the shirt. Come back with more and want a free wash? In your dreams! Come and complain to us face to face, don’t send your friends. We know you’re a liar.

Clothes missing
We wash separately, so quit telling us your clothes are mixed up. There are lots of cases like this, and when we really insist we don’t have their clothes with us, they’d reply and say “Sorry, it’s actually here with me. Sorry ya…” This happens everyweek, almost everyday!!

We might be losing lots of customers from these situations, because humans normally do before we think, but for us its not a good thing! But I thank God with every fiber in my body that there are still many repeating customers and new customers who are introduced by our old customers and they love us. But there are still other customers out there who hasn’t tried our fast and clean service, and our low low prices! But I am sure that God will take care of us, and that everything will be ok under his care. Me and Woo Kiong just need to be working hard, smart, and also, try our very best to be right with God.

After my recent blog titled: To Post-Grads & Fresh-Grads, it has come to my attention that the same person has been leaving me hate-comments. My blog didn’t intend any harm, but to suggest to my friends (I don’t even know who the heck this guy is) on some of the various work ethics that may or MAY NOT help them in their career.

There are a few things anyone can do about it. Ignore. Reflect & change what is necessary, or get angry and post hate-comments on other people’s blogs that wasn’t even intended to reach out to that moron in the first place. But thanks to him, I can write something new.

Not working hard enough?
A person like this (the guy with the hate-comments) surely doesn’t work hard enough or isn’t patient enough. When he thinks he works hard, it’s actually not such a big deal. I have a friend, and I asked him if he’s ever worked hard before. He said yes, and the time he worked his hardest is when his father asked him to wash 2 of his father’s car, and “only” paid him 20 bucks. In short, what is hard for him, doesn’t necessarily seems like a hard thing for his father. Same with an employee and his boss.

Lack of concentration?
This guy said he read all of my article, and it has caused him so much rage that he couldn’t restrain himself from writing hate-comments and foul language on another person’s blog that wasn’t even intended for him to begin with. If you could concentrate just a little more, you might realize a useful tips to help you stay motivated: Imagine YOU are the boss and your employees have been stealing money out of your pocket, how would you feel. Always try to reflect such a situation upon yourself, and you might not have mouthed-off so soon. But thanks for reading.

Lack of enthusiasm?
I mentioned that my friend works for a company that is giving him food on the table, fuel in his car, and money in his bank account to give him a life that avoids him from poverty. Yet he acted like he shouldn’t work as properly as he should and treat customers bad just because his salary is just average-like. Channel your enthusiasm somewhere else and give yourself a break, think “being grateful for having a job” or “being grateful for having money despite such a down economy” and maybe your enthusiasm for work will improve.

Lazy
I don’t know about this guy, but he sure acts as if his boss has burnt him time and time again. It may be so, but God doesn’t reward me to be lazy. This guy said “money buy the house but doesn’t buy the home” for rich people or successful people. This can be applied to anyone actually, not just the rich or successful people. Please think before you write your hate-comments. And mind your language. Those who speaks such undermines his own credibility mind you.

Looking for short cuts
You want to get a degree or a masters what actually matters? There is no short cuts. You want to get a degree or a masters that doesn’t matter, go print your own certificate. Like money for instance, try paying monopoly money the next time you stop for gas.

Look for a role model
We all need role models and need to stay with the right examples. Simple as that. You either be influenced by your friends, or you influence them. But we know it’s not going to be THAT easy.

Until next time “you” see this, I surely hope “you” do. Please don’t use foul language. Some of us humans are quite allergic to those kind of words like 2nd hand smoke. You may like it, but we sure don’t like it. And if you say we’re selfish, how about you? Because of one smoker, 10 people have to move away because of it?

Disclaimer: “You” applies to the person who left me 2 hate-comments and doesn’t actually know what he is talking about and doesn’t even dare to leave me his real name or contact number. So far for being so “brave” to writing me hate-comments. But you should consider yourself lucky enough that I would even take the time to write a blog based especially around you.

2/2/09…a perfect day to get my bike before I go open my shop. Not so perfect though. It’s raining heavily as my father and I searched for TransMas Cargo to get the bike, and once we found it, the bike was standing there, teasing everyone to get a sit on it, and it got pretty much the attention of all the cargo crew, anxiously waiting for the owner to fire it up before going back to work.

After taking off the seat and the fuel tank, I re-connected the battery and opened the fuel cork, I started the bike but it took a long while before the engine starts. It’s quite unusual for a bike, but then again, all my other bikes are Japanese. But in the end it fires up, and the engine sounds pretty impressive for a 600cc, but mainly because of the twin Yoshimura exhausts.

Ok, this is what I thought of the bike.

1. It’s amazingly light. It’s about 160kg dry, and as I sat on it I almost dropped the bike because I was so used to handling 800lbs motorcycles.

2. It has a very low center of gravity, and the seat height is impressively low. You feel as if you’re sitting IN the bike, not ON the bike. And my knees are bent while standing up. Good.

3. Comfort. The seat is slanted towards and your body is forward to the handlebars, but honestly, a short ride like this can’t really determine comfort, but it was quite comfortable during the short 15 minutes ride home. Don’t know about passenger, but the cushion is pretty soft and comfy.

4. Handling. Light, agile, stable. Superb.

5. Quality. It’s a used bike, so everything is not new-like. But I’ll give it a 7/10.

6. Engine. Power really lacks in the 1st gear as you are required to really twist the throttle by about 35%. The rest is pretty jerky at times. Not too good here.

7. Gears. Rough, and you’ll have a high chance of missing gears in all gears. Pretty bad here.

8. Exhaust. Mine was fitted with aftermarket sports exhaust, so it sounds pretty sweet. But the exhaust needs a little polishing though.

9. Looks. Need I say more. Everyone had to come and have a look.

I’m pretty happy about this bikes but it needs some work to do. The front bulb needs a new one, the rear tire cover is cracked, and the fairing hasn’t come yet. I need a new pair of side mirrors, and I need to clean the bike and pump it full of petrol. Other than that, the bike is fine. Love it. Thank you Jesus!

I’m not real sure about fresh grads nowadays, but lots of my friends who are fresh grads constantly complain about their work and talk sh)t about their boss and complain about the minimum salary they are given. That’s all fine…but, sometimes it’s not always their fault.

I just opened a new laundry shop, and this is what I think of post-grads and fresh-grads that I hired:

Not working hard enough
One can easily ask for a raise in salary. But few are willing to work for it. They fool around, they joke around, they do not concentrate, and mess things up. But when I ask them about it, they’d lie and give me excuses, and when I advice them about their mistakes, they say I’m a jerk, and they’re trying their best already and my demands are too high. It’s not too high a demand if I’m asking you to get off your butts and do some work, and when you do it, do it properly!

Lack of concentration
Nowadays, we have everything to help us think. We use a computer, we use a calculator, and we seldom use our brains. My customer’s laundry have been messed up quite a few times more than I’d want it to. Why? Lack of using brain power. They’d just do, do and do some more without thinking much about the consequences. So stop for a while and think before you act. Ok?

Lack of enthusiasm
If you don’t like what you’re doing, don’t do it. But if you need the job that you’re doing, do the best that you can. The lack of enthusiasm towards your job will only make your time at work worse. So be happy about it when you work, and even the worst situation can be turned around.

Lazy
A thousand meanings on this one. My laundry shop requires lots of body movement, and it seems to be a challenge for my workers to move around and get things done. Also, I require them to state down their workloads into paper, so they’d not mess things up. Follow the system and things won’t get too messy. What did they tell me? Too much work. It’s the first time I’ve ever heard regard like that, that taking a pen and write a short remark on a piece of paper  is “too much work”.

Looking for short cuts
I’ve lots of friends who told me they want to get rich, they want to be successful. But all they do is sit there and do nothing. They’ve always come to me for money and ask me to invest here and there, and share some profit and things like that. There are no short cuts to success and wealth. Even those who play the stock market requires at least months of experience (for a fast learner). If you want to be successful, work hard and work smartly. Not work hard and mess everything up.

Look for a role model
My workers and my new business partner should follow closely to what I do, even though I’m not a millionaire (yet), but I do get the job done right and properly without messing anything up. Look for a role model and be like what he is, and think like what he thinks, and do like what he does. It’s the same thing with following someone who does nothing all day, be like him and you’ll end up like him. Enuff said.

For the past few weeks have been a grueling battle against my new business partner, my new workers, my new business, and my new rivals. I’m the one with the most responsibilities, I am a little shaken and weary at the moment, but I still take time to pray to God and ask for his help. So, please, do not be such a useless worker or employee. The problems might not be someone else, but yourselves.

For a week already people have been coming to my new laundry shop. Mainly because mine is closer to their college compare to my other rival. We also give 5% discounts to students. But lately news have it that they are receiving more business than mine, and that they’ve set a new price of RM2.80/kg compared to their original RM3.70/kg.

Actually it was all a scam and is exposed immediately 2 days later by me when I was at a grocery store nearby my shop chatting away with the shop owner. A student came by with a bunch a clothes washed and dried at our rival laundry shop. I asked if it was okay to take the clothes and weigh it for a second. Guess what…? It was supposed to be RM2.80/kg but please calculate the following:

2.6kg = RM9.50

1kg = 2.6kg / RM9.50

1kg = RM3.65

So how the heck does RM2.80/kg being charged RM3.65/kg? It is clearly they were lying to their customers that they charge RM2.80/kg but clearly what they say is not what they really charge. It was an obvious scam and an outraged to some of the students who did calculate properly (others don’t they just pay and couldn’t care less if they were cheated).

Things improved the next day as my laundry business received more than 50 bags to wash. I was glad and thought that my hardwork had finally paid off, until just now around 9pm.

I remembered 1 week ago when we received more than 70 bags to wash everyday we were able to finish washing and tumble-dry about 25-30 bags a day, based on me and my business partner. But things couldn’t go on that way and me and my partner was tired to death. I, instead took the initiative to hire extra helpers, excluding myself of course, and order extra machines. This time we should be able to do 3 times the production compared to last time. 75 bags per day without problems right?

Think again.

After getting 3 times the man power and 3 times the machine than before, today they were only able to “proudly” present to me, a maximum production number of just 18 bags that fine day. I was stunned and more over, I was pissed. I mean, how the heck you have 3 times the man power, and 3 times the amount of machines, and produce less than what we originally had been able to do?????

Please God, please bless me with a wise and hardworking business partner and workers. I am operating at a loss, and I am really considering getting rid of my current partner and his ways of supervising if things don’t improve tomorrow.

A regular customer walked into my shop, he restarted the computer and it required a password. He then called me the way a person calls a dog. I then walked quickly to him to solve his problems, and also to tell him properly and very kindly that I prefer not to be called in that manner, and I prefer to be called “Peter” or “Sir” or “Excuse me”.

It didn’t sound good to him though, and he seemed very dissatisfied and pretty pissed, or perhaps because he was embarassed. He quickly walked out of the shop and as he paid his RM1.00, he told me “This is the last time I’m ever coming here”.

Well, it’s fine with me. Because no matter what, I’m a child of God. And dignity is not for sale. God bless you. Amen.

My memory isn’t what it use to be, but I can’t recall anything that happened in January, February, March, April…etc… All I know is…

June: End of the semester, UNIMAS & UITM had their holidays by 15th and I’m on vacation, riding 2000 miles to Sabah and back. Pretty fun. Gotta love Borneo. By the way, is this the time that my church shuffled and reassigned me to a different cell group?

Jump right to October: After being extra thrifty with my savings and spendings, I was with a huge amount of money and renovating my new shop. I decided to sell off my Royal Star, and Mark, being the middle man, took the bike and looked for a seller.

Now, here is the problem, he took the bike and I wasn’t paid yet until he sold the bike. Later on a few days, he sold it, and still haven’t paid me. What’s up with that? He then said he was waiting for payment too, at the meanwhile he’s looking for a bike for me. Sounds reasonable? Okay…

Then, found a bike, a Yamaha FJ1100. transaction was on, but this bike had some problems, and spare parts was hard to find, so I told bike it wasn’t going to work out after 2 weeks of patiently waiting, and decided to get a Kawasaki ZXR750 instead.

Result? Bad. Hope? Downed as ever. It seems his promise to me was denied yet again after delaying me week after week after week after week. 3 weeks later, I dropped the buy on the Kawa and was getting impatient with Mark’s way of jerking me around. It is middle of November and still nothing to ride.

Finally, he found me a Ducati Monster 600, he told me it was modded, with aftermarket pipes. I was thrilled, until he insisted the pipes needed extra payment. How ridiculous was that? He is clearly yanking my leg. He also insisted I upgrade to dual brakes and some accessories that will cost me RM10k or more. I declined. I said to heck with the accessories, get me the bike, and I’ll upgrade them later.

Surely enough, the sale was on. And from mid of  November until now (December 28th) , he kept on delaying the delivery date. Here is how it goes. 1st, he said the bike needed some service. The carbs are dirty and needed to be cleaned because it was very rarely ridden. Fine. Get it done and over with. Then the timing belt, then batteries, then handlebars were slightly bent because it dropped, signal lights broken at one side, and fuel tank dented at one side too. I said, fine, fix it up and get it here.

After pushing for 2 weeks of me getting mad, he promised me yet again the bike will be done before the 15th, and it’s not. And asked me to be patient yet again. I’ve been waiting for the past 1.5 months and I think I’m patient enough. We might be friends, but I’m letting him earn my money, so get your ass working!

But, what can I do? I had to have it fixed, and then he promised me after 2 weeks he will deliver. 2 weeks have passed…how is the result? That S.O.B gave me more excuses with the bike and needed another week because the parts haven’t arrived. 1 week later I called him up again and he told me the mechanic had to install the parts and needed 1 more week to fix it up. So fine, 1 week later he told me testing of the bike have not been done, and I should receive the bike before Christmas, did I? No I didn’t receive squat!

Then he promised the bike will make it on Saturday to the airport and be here in Kuching by evening time, on the 27th the bike will be making its ways down to Kuching already…whoo hoo!!! I called in anticipation, did it? He said it was only declared in the customs, not yet shipped down. Now it’s Sunday and I’m pissed off, he isn’t answering my calls. And he promised me I’ll be getting the balance of my money back tomorrow, if he doesn’t show tomorrow, I’m calling off the deal. I still sell my Royal Star, but I take all my money in cash. Enough said.

My new shop has been done, except the main signboard needs to go up this Tuesday, hopefully my contractor will show up because he hasn’t been so reliable for the past 3 months either and I had to close down my current shop to renovate my new shop all on my own. I feel like I’m going to break down. Now nearing the end of the year and I still haven’t caught a break. How wonderful is that…

All and all, I’m really struggling here with my new shop and old shop, and having to put up with all the Christmas activities and dinner activities my church cell-group have to organize, and I have to deal with my contractor delaying his work for 2 weeks without any good reason, and my bike dealer, Mark, who has been a pain in the ass, and if he don’t set things right, I either take back my Royal Star, or I take back my money in cash. If the bike doesn’t get to me by 31st of December, I’m calling off the deal.

Enough said. Don’t need this kind of rubbish in my life now. Need to rest before I re-open my 2 shops.