Learning.

I am learning:

- that a calling cannot and should not consume you.

- that at the end, what's most important, is that love relationship between our hearts and who we call God.

- that as we love Him more and more, our callings will beckon us, in clearer ways, in ways unimaginable.

- that our callings become toilsome burdens only because we see ourselves as mere servants, and forget that ultimately, we are also God's friend and child.

- that dreaming, like love, is a risk. And that while I'm dead scared (of both loving and dreaming), I think I will be less so in time.

-and that... it's okay to dream. It's okay to keep dreaming. It surprised me to find myself surprised to realise that, all over again.

And so it no longer bothers me so much anymore, to know for sure exactly what my calling is. Because out of love and dreams, trust and faith, tomorrow will become clear and certain eventually.

And that gives me great joy and freedom, to see it getting clearer, as I live in today, every day.

Have you McValue lunched this week?

A couple of days ago when the clock struck 12pm, I met up with a few friends who were also affected by the recession, to have lunch at Mcdonalds.


Sometimes you might wonder what do people actually do when they're affected by the recession. When I say affected by the recession, I mean literally losing our jobs.

Now, when you lose your job, it does not necessarily mean we end up as drug addicts or convert ourselves to monks or become thieves or end up as beggers on the streets or try our luck in Genting Highlands casino's hoping to earn something to continue living.



What really happens is that....

You'd probably hear less of us. Our phone is forever engaged because we can no longer pay for the subscription any longer to Maxis.

Even if you do get to reach us by call, we would have no choice but to squash all chances of meeting to not only avoid shame but to avoid expensive places that we would be meeting.

You won't even see our facebook account anymore because we have cancelled it as there isn't really anything more to share other than the tough times that we are going through.




Even if you do see our facebook account, literally you will not see any form of action in there, almost like as if we left earth to go to Mars or something. Most probably because there isn't anymore internet line to check our facebook account.

You'd probably won't even see us online on msn anymore.

and if you have a hot girlfriend



which isn't going to accept Mcdonalds as her lunch for the next few years since the economy has been expected to get much worst before it gets better, then its time to take a step back and "BE A MAN, DO THE RIGHT THING!"

All this is happening because we'd have to save. Every cent spent will be coming out from our own savings.



Now...When it comes to eating, we recession people make sure that we spend money on food that is of value worth. It doesn't take alot for us recessionary(jobless) people to find OUT that there is this one amazing value for money meal in town which is the Mcdonalds McValue Meal.

Its everywhere!!

From the newspaper!



To my own blog!

To posters pasted on walls.

I mean, gosh its even on FACEBOOK!!


Mcdonalds has came up with this fantastic deals for the past few months, targeted to us recessionary people out there to help us during this trying times.


Its like a discount handed over to you every single day.

In Malaysia, sometimes you just don't really see the effect of recession. Some people say that Malaysia is not affected because we have strong banking fundamentals and etc. etc.

But while I was queueing up to order at Mcdonalds, I experienced some of this small things that show we are actually in fact in a recession.


People are donating much much less.



Don't get me wrong, people are still donating. Maybe just enough to make some kids in south Africa happy for a brief moment with a few packet of hacks.

Couples on their first date have to share a Mcvalue meal. (I suppose he know's that the mcvalue meal is the most valuable meal in town to bring his girlfriend )


Children have to work harder by acting cuter to get the toys they want but eventually not getting anything.




There was also this couple which after some misunderstanding added more value to their Mcvalue Meal by asking for a plastic bag which probably will be used later to bring back some left-overs to keep their children happy at home with mcdonald french fries.



Ok, so you're probably wondering how my friends and I had our Mcvalue Lunch.



WE SHARE!! You heard me right. The four of us would share a meal.

We would just order one Mcvalue Meal which is the McChicken at RM5.95.


Not Spicy chicken Mcdeluxe at RM7.95.


Not even tasty Big Mac which is also at RM7.95.


We wouldn't even get carried away by making our meal larger for RM1.20 knowing that the burger doesn't get any bigger than it already is.


Our budget was RM5.95. Even then, we knew we would already be off budget. Knowing Mcdonalds, we even came prepared with a few more cents, knowing that after tax, what you see on newspaper and what you pay is different.


Our McChicken totaled up to RM 6.25. (If there was anything that the government can learn from Mcdonalds, its time to slash your tax as well!!Recession????)

The good thing about sharing though, is that, everybody comes on time.

So everyone had their share of burger that is proportionally divided by the size of our mouths.


and when it came to the Coca-cola, as much as we were sick sharing over-licked burger,


we made sure the drink this time was shared properly.

Being at Mcdonalds, straws were free.


The straws were then placed at an angle almost like as if everyone just knew which were their's to make sure there was no mix up.



and when the cup eventually dries up, there was always a free refill. A self-service jug filled with coke so there's always enough drinks for everyone on the table. It is well known that people like us would eventually pour some of this coke into an empty bottle to be brought back home.


This free refill alone is enough to put a smile on the many faces of people affected by recession like us.

While the free refill happens to be one of the more reasons that makes this Mcvalue Meal so valuable in town, there are other benefits as well.

For RM5.95, you get Air-Cond. Something we do not have in our homes ever since we have been hit by recession. Its nice and cold environment definitely lets us enjoy the Mcvalue Meal comfortably.

For RM5.95, you get to use their basin. They have a basin so that we can enjoy and practice a certain amount of hygiene before and after eating, something we do not get to practice in our homes ever since we cut down on soap.


For RM 5.95, we get to use their free wi-fi. Which means we have free internet access. Combination of free Refilled Coke, Free Wi-fi, and free air-cond, there is definitely no other place that gives you a better time with Facebook.



While, I must admit that there are definitely cheaper food in Penang called Char Koay Teow, it definitely does not provide a balanced and nutritious meal like McValue Meal does.



You have protein, salt, carbohydrates, energy..


I mean how wrong could you possibly get!

So at the end of the day, before everybody left to figure out what else they can do to survive through this economic downturn, the bill is divided among the four of us which came up to RM1.56 each.


RM1.56!!!

WHERE IN THE WORLD CAN YOU FIND A MORE VALUABLE MEAL IN TOWN!!

So, if you ask me have I had my Mcvalue Lunch this week?




Well yes i did!!

Not only did we have McValue meal for lunch, we made Value out of McValue Meal.



p/s: For those of you guys wondering why I made value out of Mcvalue meal, this is for the Mcvalue Meal Contest that is running from April 29 to May 31st 2009. Here are some other interesting blogs that you should read as well. I know I can't be that lucky to win that iphone but i thought it was an interesting topic to write. I hope you enjoyed it!

Painful but not that painful

Today, I witness what I call its ok if my car got knocked. When I say knock, I mean dent because most cars would try to avoid knocking my car because it's just not worth it.

Just awhile ago, I saw my car which was parked along side the road nicely scraped by a brand new black honda accord because the driver turned too early only to find its entire door scraped by my bumper.


In normal circumstances, the driver would come down and check the damage of their car as well as the damage done to my car and I would have come running after the driver to get things sorted out in an unmannerly way like an uneducated person from Jelutong.

But it happens that the driver just drove off knowing that he just knocked an old piece of trash and it wouldn't make any difference to my car. Anyhow, I didn't feel the damage reflected was alot which I will be able to cover up by buying a tin of black spray.

Mr Gin's Project 365, Day 146, 25th May 2009

A few hours later, I happen to find that the front of my car had a bump just like this.




Now I don't know, what to say. I feel pain that all this is happening to my car in such a short time today, but not the kind of pain had this dent happen to be on a new car say Ferrari or something.

It's like having a pimple on the face that you'd feel irritated for awhile but forgotten in a short time.

Sigh, now I also got to bring a hammer out to straighten it.

I guess there are some benefits in driving an old car. Nobody is talking about the knocks that's happening to my car in my family somehow. I guess its not really an issue.

My ugly hands.

They were bent, distorted and ugly. You might even have suspected they lost their function altogether. I remember looking at those pair of hands and trying very hard to recall the seven salient points about the manifestation of rheumatoid arthritis in a patient's hands.

The grossly distorted hands belonged to Mdm T. "So what did you use to do?" I asked.

"I was a hawker," she replied gently in mandarin. " I used to help my son cut vegetables and meat at his noodle stall. We were doing very well. Then I had this painful arthritis and my fingers became like that. I could no longer cut vegetables because of the pain so I turned to serve the customers noodles instead. But people see my que xian (defect) and become afraid of eating my food. So I stopped working."

I remember Mdm T even though I met her many months ago because I could never forget the colour in the words of her voice- that sense of utter dejection, and rejection.

"They are so ugly."

Que xian. It means defect in mandarin. Ren jia kan dao wo de que xian jiu pa. People see my defect and become scared.

I don't know if I said the right thing. When faced with such circumstances on a daily basis, very few of us ever do. But I remember replying in mandarin, "Mdm T, don't be sad. Each one of us has a defect too, just that some of them are visible, and some are not. But we all carry defects (wo men dou you que xian)- you're not alone."

I think those words hit me far harder than they did her. Each one of us has a defect, just that some of them are visible, and some are not. But we all do.

I met up with some friends today. One had injured her knee so badly during dance training that she felt embarrassed climbing the stairs at the train station, simply because she had to walk so slowly because of the pain; another has been on long-term medication because of lupus, a condition where the body's immune system attacks itself; yet another two were not in our midst because one had been warded for gall-stones and another had suffered a slipped disc.

The funny thing is, we are all less than twenty-five... looking healthy, strong, ready to take on the world. Yet, who but God and ourselves know the hidden infirmities and afflictions buried within our bodies.

Some defects are more visible than others. But defects they are, nonetheless.

It reminded me of all the psychiatric patients I had seen walk into the doctor's room. Each had a normal-looking face, a face just like yours and mine. A face that could have been you or I had our circumstances changed. Yet, who would have guessed the extent of debilitation each of their masked secrets had caused them. A young man whom my tutor had assigned me to interview turned beetroot red as he spoke softly to me. He is recovering from a social disorder which was so severe at one point that it was impossible to talk to anyone of the opposite sex, impossible to take public transport, impossible to attend school and impossible to simply go out for a run because "everyone is watching me". I then realised he was blushing at me.

Who would have known?

It's so easy to be insensitive, get mad or pass callous remarks when we don't see beneath the surface. And when we do see the visible defects of others, why is it that we run a mile away, forgetting that our defects, too, lay within our skin. I thought of how often I can still laugh and joke sometimes even when I'm feeling terrible inside- not everything is visible, always.

Maybe it's about time we realised that like Mdm T, we all each have a defect too. Wo men dou you que xian. And there's no need for us to ever run away because of a pair of ugly hands, because each of us owns them too.

When we finally remind ourselves, over and over, that we all have a pair of ugly hands too, it is perhaps then, that we can be a little bit kinder, a little bit gentler and little bit more forgiving, more human for our brother in need.

Be kinder than necessary

for everyone you meet is fighting some sort of battle.

- Anonymous

Mr Gin's Project 365, Day 142, 21st March 2009

Mr Gin's Project 365, Day 142, 21st March 2009

Yesterday, I bought something from Jusco so that I could sign up and get this card for free. Now, I don't know how much people actually have to pay to get such a card but oh well, if its free, why not??

Apparently it comes with some sort of VIP car park for shopping and it simply just collects points. That's all I know for now.

Bomba Catches Cobra

Last Sunday, Bomba came over my grandmother's house.


It wasn't because of fire.

It wasn't because of a cat that knew how to get up a tree and did not know how to get down.

Even the fire hydrant in front of them that had a tree growing in it, was not even part of the reason why they came.


It was because we had a snake problem. A snake that was hiding in a hole under a flower pot.



Now..at most times, I would have done a Steve Irwin move on the snake,



but because Bomba services are free and definitely more experienced than I am in catching snakes by having the necessary tools to do the job, I decided to call them instead.

I accidentally dialed 911 which in actual fact should be 999, but somehow, the nice girl on the phone whom after taking down my particulars handed my call over to Bomba. (I suppose any number still works since we Malaysians are really confused on which emergency number to call.)

So, after about 40 minutes since I did not put in a way that the snake was going to KILL US, they FINALLY arrived.

you'd probably be wondering how our firemen looks like and why girls in our country doesn't go wild when they see one, well, behold the snake catcher..



i'm sure there are "girlsss" but i'm pretty sure they'd not go wild. But then again, maybe with the snakes around, they would and he would think it would be for him.

Now, not everybody can be Steve Irwin.

It takes at least three firemen to come and catch a snake.

They had the necessary tool


and here's something educational in catching snakes if your inner Steve Irwin decides to.

In order to flush the snake out, what Bomba did was spray insecticide.



That's right, just like a flash bomb for humans. Just keep spraying insecticide into the hole!

If that wasn't enough, being at a Grandmother's House, insecticide was plentiful.


Make sure the trap was set just like this!


Eventually, the snake decides to come out.

Bomba Fireman got the snake pinned down with one stick and another fireman had his rope tool around the head of the snake. Let's just say, the snake has been caught.

And when you thought that everything is over and the snake would now enjoy a good life of free KFC finger-licking good food in some zoo everyday for the rest of its life and being admired by people for its existence on this earth,

WHAM!!

The fireman smacks its head with another funny looking tool in my grandmother's house like a guillotine.



WHAMS AGAIN!!



The snake is finally dead. The threat is finally over with the head totally disfigured.

The snake was actually a black Cobra. It was this long.


I couldn't help but take a close-up picture of this pityful snake.


I thought they were going to catch it not KILL IT!!If only Steve Irwin was still around.

I REGRET CALLING BOMBA!!