Selamat Berpuasa to my Muslim Readers

I would like to take this month of Ramadhan to wish all my muslim friends Selamat Berpuasa. Last year, my church sold boxes of dates for us to buy and give them as gifts to our muslim friends but it is rather quiet this year. Last year we have bought 5 boxes of dates or kurma to give them to our Malay workers but they have all left the company since February 2009. It was a blessing in disguise that all of them left when we later found out that they have done their own things outside during working hours. Anyway, that aside, my second sister will go to the airport this evening for a flight back to Suchou. She has 8 weeks of holidays in a year as a lecturer in China but she really works hard as the assistant head of the English department.

Going to KL tomorrow

My colleague will come to fetch me and we will travel down by car to KL for business tomorrow. Most likely we will stay in the rented condo in Subang Jaya for a couple of days before coming back to Penang. I am not a liberty to reveal what we will do for our business as this is company policy. This is not the first time I am going to KL and have travelled frequently in the past couple of years back and forth. As I am not married, and don't have family commitments, it is easier for me to travel at last minute's notice. My parents are quite liberal that they allow me to travel all over Malaysia with my colleague for business. I know that some parents prefer their kids to stay put in one place than to go all over Malaysia for work purposes.

Saving up for Golden Years

As I am not married and already in my late thirties, the only way is to save up much money for my golden years since I don't have children who can help support me later on. Right now I am contributing RM600 to the household expenses for my parents and they are lucky that the 3 daughters are working and paying monthly for the expenses. Hence I have to save up every penny now and not squander them unnecessarily for my old age retirement plans. By then, my boss may be too old to drive around any more and the workers are getting older by the years. I sincerely hope that there will be a business model to take in new blood who can continue the prosperous business of building sports surfaces for a very long time.

What the Heck! No one picks up telephone at Penang SOCSO

I have paid the worker’s SOCSO company contribution for April 2009 and until today, 12th of May, I have yet to receive a receipt and form for May payment from them. SOCSO stands for Social Security Organisation that was established in Malaysia to make monthly payments to workers becoming disabled in the course of their employment. It is like a form of insurance. Today, I tried to contact the numbers that I have in the SOCSO letterhead and they have changed to a new number that is non-contactable at all and simply send a thank you message and hang up when you select all the options! Even the operator number leads to automatic message with no one to pick up the phone! I don’t know who is the director or head of department for SOCSO but they sure try to find ways to automate their telephone calls with no single person to pick up calls and attend to enquiries. This is surely the ‘makan ular’ (lackadaisical) attitude of the staff who is missing in action! Typical of the Malays who are so lazy, and depend on the UMNO government to take care of their needs to the exclusion of other races. I am still wondering how sincere is the government in advocating 1Malaysia concept.

Happy Easter Sunday

Yesterday was Easter Sunday and my church in Georgetown Baptist Church put up a wonderplay play with a short movie of the Passion of Christ showing Jesus before his crucifixion. It is also a time to forgive previous grievances and hurts done by others. Easter is to celebrate the resurrection power of Jesus when he died at the cross and he is now alive in Heaven. One day, when all Christians die, they will reunite in heaven and stay there for eternity - which is a very very long time. While it is better to stay in heaven where there is no sorrow, pain or death, it is good to make ourselves useful here on here promoting the Kingdom of God by preaching to our loved ones so that they can be saved from eternal damnation in hell and by tithing.

Recent Order

I just got a recent order for writing 4 articles from a client in United Kingdom. And his payment is very prompt because the moment I emailed him the articles, he will immediately send me payment via my Paypal account. I have written many articles for him and he is my repeat client. Just 2 days ago, I got a new order from him, but had to postpone writing the articles as today I had to travel down to KL for an interview tomorrow about some issues. And he kindly allowed me to hand in the articles next week when I return. Writing articles keep me usefully occupied while earning some pocket money. And the requirements are not stringent at all.

Oasis Dried Up but other Opportunities are Open

Gone are the days when I was making a substantial amount of money each day from doing paid blogging and writing articles. My online work has becomes scarce like an oasis being dried up. With the global recession and economic upheaval, it would become worse and I can only depend on Google Adsense to make online income which took months to hit USD100, the minimum for payout. But thank goodness, I am also selling Herbalife, a slimming product plus cosmetics through my blog and this has make more than RM1,000 for me since last year. All my contacts are from emails sent to me to request for orders, money paid online to cash bank into ATM and then the order is also done online through my supplier in KL. All Herbalife delivery are through courier service when clients have to pay additional RM20 for the products to be delivered right to their door steps.