Jobbing

I got back this morning after another working trip in the ulu (lit. upriver). Yes, it’s one of those trips that requires me to travel into the land of many giant broccoli and ask its inhabitants all kinds of stupid questions. Then, I’ve to write about it in exchange for beers.

I was supposed to arrive in Kuching last night but I was informed at the airport counter that my flight was canceled. “So, what options do I have?” I asked the lady behind the counter.

“Ooh, sorry but this is the last flight,” she told me without answering my question.

Jobbing (continued…)

Oh, I forgot to tell you about my job trip.

Of course, I won’t write everything here otherwise I’d bore you to tears. So, I was in the ulu or ‘up country’ for the whole of last week, asking local inhabitants about why they walk their land of many giant broccoli without any footwear. They politely informed me that my question was indeed strange and stupid but out of sympathy for an urban simpleton like me, they would unveil the secrets of the feet.

Couple of days ago…

The last two days have been hectic. Got my stupid monthly salary this week only to see it evaporate within a couple of hours. Paid the two-month installments for my car because I defaulted last month’s. And as I was about to budget the remaining one third of my salary, I got a phone call from a friend.

“Your salary came in today?” he asked me. Yes, I told him. I have not heard from him for many months now. His punch line came quickly “Y’know, my sister-in-law needs money and I can’t send it to her in Kuching because there’s no bank here,” he explained without me asking. “I was wondering if you can lend her some and I’ll pay you back when you get here on Sunday,” he said.

Casually, I just asked him “Okay, no problem. How much?” It’s not the first time this happened.

“She needs RM2,000,” he informed me.

Gift?

My Sony W30 is sudah uzur. It’s dying on me. The pictures I take are sometimes blurry. The function dial is not working properly (e.g. if I put it to P, it goes to ISO, or Portrait automatically goes to Landscape). And it’s only about three years old!

If you happen to think about me and ask yourself “Oh, why don’t I just buy him a gift?” then think no more! The best gift that you can ever give me — apart from RM17 million in cash, that is — is this point-and-shoot digicam!

Artist at work

My boss called me to her office a couple of weeks ago. She handed me a piece of paper and said “I want you to attend this writing course organized by some experts from KL. I think they can help you make your writing more readable to polish your writing skills. Believe me, you need it!”

What choice do I have, right? So, I attended the whole-day course on Monday and Tuesday. I didn’t understand half of what these experts from Kay El said. Part of the course required me to show my writing, which was quite embarrassing. I’m sure these experts would not stop laughing on their way back to Kay El. Damn.

So, I wrote.

The first day itself was already taxing. The experts were blabbering away, sprinkling some big time jargon here and there, and injected some strange techniques that I’ve never heard before.

Most of the time, everything else just flew over my head.