Month: October 2007

Smorgasboard Again


Work

Just a little over a year ago, after a miserable 2 months, I resigned from my role as a solicitor with the Melbourne Market Authority. I left that organisation at the end of October 06 and began a personal downward slide which lasted a few months. I think the wounds from that episode are still felt every now and then, which made me appreciate all the more, the fact that I am now engaged in a challenging and satisfying role. A few days ago a colleague from an associated department came around to tell us he has just resigned. He’s a really top bloke and our favourite guy in that department. He was going to do a course on primary school teaching after which he planned to get a job much closer to home (it is now a 1-hour drive in to work every day) so that he could spend more time with his 4 children.

This tells me either one of 2 things – that the culture here permits such great flexibility for career change without allowing money to get in the way, or that there has been issues which have caused him unhappiness here. The Asian heritage in me tells me there must be a degree of unhappiness in his relationship at work because the sacrifice in terms of income would be too great. There is no way a primary school teacher can earn anywhere near what his role here would have been paying him. I would not be surprised if the drop is somewhere in the 50% region. In addition, he’d have to fork out a considerable sum to enrol in a primary teaching course and be without income for the duration of that course (7 months). Financially, it represents such a high cost. Like I said, the Asian in me tells me there must therefore be something else, which is a strong push factor, which has contributed significantly to his decision. I hope he continues to be the happy, positive and chirpy person we have come to know.

Work pattern in Australia has surged ahead so that in many organisations, it is now commonplace for employees to be working late into the night. Just over 2 years ago when I was in a suburban legal firm, work is almost always done by 6 at the latest. Maybe that is the way suburban work operates. Stil, I had to brief barristers every now and then and invariably that involved trekking into the city. Even the city lawyers didnt want to stay very much later than say, 6.30. Now however, I find many colleagues still hanging in and plugging away way past 7.

I have been driving in to work since we moved into our new place, as I have had to drop kiddo off at school in the morning (we are now too far away from her school for her to walk). As I have become free from the constraints of public transport, I have worked later than I thought I would when I came to this country. What’s more, I find myself not alone! While the vast majority are well out of the office by 6.30, increasingly unhealthy number of staff work well into the night and it is not uncommon for the odd person on the odd occasion to work close to midnight. Sad, but true.

Like I said, I have been driving in to work recently. Since moving into the new place, our routine has changed somewhat. While I still get into the gym as usual, I now drive back home after that, and pick kiddo up for school. I drop her a bit before 8, which isnt ideal for her but under the circumstances, is the best arrangement available. She probably has to wait around 30 minutes before her mates arrive – I feel sorry for her but like I said, we really have no choice. As it is, by the time I pull into the parking space, it leaves me just enough time for the 10-15 minute walk in to office. A week into this new routine, I have become a little more comfortable with it though if given half a chance, I would revert to the old one in a flash. I really prefer coming in early – gives me a certain comfort to be the in early, making sure there are no surprises for the day!!

Fun at Work

We recently had an Amazing Race style of event for the company. Over 3 separate days, up to 20 teams (for each day) went out for half a day and covered the Mebourne CBD completing various tasks and challenges. My team had someone from Project Management, a couple of guys from IT and well, me. We left Fawkner Park on Commercial Road around 1pm, and tracked around the CBD, solving puzzles and completing tasks and challenges. It was a great way to interact with colleagues we would otherwise never have a chance to even talk to. The appointed finishing time was 5pm when we were supposed to meet at a Beer Cafe just next to the office building. My team was an all-male fit and competitive outfit so we ran right through the entire race and finished just before 4pm, a record time! I must say I struggled to keep up (and I thought my fitness level was alright!) with my team members. A little trophy now sits on a filing cabinet at the Legal Department… It was fun but I was zonked that night – slept like a baby!

Malaysia

Last Saturday, I had lunch with an old friend. He is a family friend. When he first went to uni in Sydney, he stayed with me for a little while. I cannot remember how we hooked up but with a family friend that could have been through any one of our many uncles.

Anyway, the last time I met him was more than 15 years ago. About a week ago he bumped into Theresa in the train while getting in to the city. It was a strange and unlikely coincidence as Theresa didnt normally take the train on that line or at that time. Anyway, Theresa gave him my contact details, he called and we caught up over the weekend.

He had been a partner in one of the big 4 accounting firms, in the KL office. He’s younger than me so you could say he was young. A young professional who has made it as a partner in a big 4 accounting firm has a lot going for him. His wife worked as an corporate deal/transaction analyst a tycoon who used to own a bank. When he sold the bank he continued to retain her on his personal payroll, to work on his personal deals and businesses. So she must have been a pretty good talent too. Yet, they have both decided to come and live in Melbourne. He sounded a little down in having to adjust to work at a more junior level. He’s still with the same big 4 firm, but not at the level he was in KL. He and his wife have both given up comfortable professional lives in exchange for personal struggles in many ways, in a new homeland. I do not envy his journey ahead, for the next say, 12-18 months. It is going to take a lot of adjustments. It is a journey Theresa and I have taken and continue to take. It is, unfortunately (or should it be fortunately) a journey many Malaysians have taken and would continue to take.

Just like many before my friend, he too relayed incidents of habitual corrupt practices, economic mismanagement, erosion of law and order and a total lack of leadership or accountability on the part of the Prime Minister. Earlier suggestions that the PM was merely adopting an “elegant silence” were at best, to borrow Alan Greenspan’s famous line, “irrational exuberance” on the part of those who attempted to defend the PM. The PM was, has always been and remains a cause for concern and a major reason for Malaysia’s ills. At the beginning of his watch, Malaysia required urgent attention to cure the ills which Mahathir had inflicted. Instead, he simply made matters worse but creating an envrionment for more of the same, except this updated version of corruption, racism and mismanagement has become an “open source” system of sorts. What I mean is that while Mahathir’s reign heralded big-time corruption by individuals based which created total mismanagement, it was at least confined to a select few. The seriously corrupt and rich were always aligned to some politicians who were in turn aligned to Mahathir or Daim or while it lasted, Anwar. Under Badawi’s watch, no such order remained. It became a free for all, because Mahathir’s successor was asleep for the most part. The system or culture created by Mahathir was at least under control in that Mahathir was a strongman who made sure the order of things remained. With Badawi, the corruption and mismanagement remained but the order was gone. With the strongman gone, it’s the proverbial foot soldiers who have all swarmed in to place their grubby hands on the soiled and shrinking cake. Pretenders like Khairy and the so-called 4th floor boys think they have a good chance to take over but every single person I have spoken to think poorly of him and his mob so things dont look too flash for them.

Meanwhile, i think Malaysia would simply continue to suffer an exodus of the middle class, especially the skilled professionals. Like my old familyi friend said. the very rich would stay because they have too much at stake and they could always buy their way out of trouble should serious trouble come about. The poor or not-so rich and unskilled would have no choice so they would remain and cop whatever comes. All the others who could leave the country, mainly would if they have not already.

Family

It’s been almost 2 weeks since we moved into our new place. I’m at the tale end of a lingering cough, as is kiddo. Theresa is tired, and I’m thinking we could all use a break. On the first Saturday after moving in, after the routine cleaning and the lunch with the friend from the big 4 accounting firm and cooking it was almost 5. The cooking included boiling 80 eggs and dyeing them red (with helpful tips from a cyber friend as well as a church member), to celebrate a church member’s 80th birthday. It was something fun to do – to celebrate an anglo-saxon Aussie’s birthday by a traditional Malaysian Chinese way. I think the birthday boy appreciated it, which was good since we did it because we appreciated everything he has done for the church for so long. Incidentally, his initials are “JC” so he must have thought he has a lot to live up to. Kiddo had a church thing at 5 so after cooking we sent her there, came back and did some cooking (completed the egg dyeing) and by the time we were almost done, it was time to pick her up from church.

On the way home, we picked up a dvd and light and fun as it was, I could barely keep my eyes open as kiddo stayed glue. Theresa of course, was long gone way before me. We hit the sack relatively early, bearing in mind we were to adjust the clock to make room for daylight savings (we lose an hour). I pushed the clocks an hour ahead, went to bed and woke up feeling like I needed more sleep but couldnt get any more.

Aussie Pollies

Mr Rudd was at it again – doing his chameleon thing. For such a long time, he criticised John Howard for not signing the Kyoto Accord on greenhouse emission standards. John Howard’s stance of course, was that Kyoto has a huge gaping hole in the form of the absence of the US and China, 2 of the largest polluters. Kyoto also meant new costs to doing business so the Aussie economy would suffer. Why pay for something when others wont pay their shares and we wont get what we pay for? As unpalatable and unpopular as that sounds, I think John Howard is right not to go with Kyoto without US and China participation. I think it is classic Kevin Rudd playing to the gallery by suggesting he would adopt Kyoto. He has said it all along, including at the televised leaders’ debate.

Perhaps it is because the general public is now seeing the ineffectiveness of Kyoto unless the big 2 came along. Whatever the reason, when Peter Garett (the retired rock star of the Midnight Oil fame) the shadow environment minister said the Labour government would sign Kyoto irrespective of US and China participation, it hit a wrong note. Kevin Rudd then did to Peter Garett what he did to Rob McClelland, ie he gagged his team for saying something he himself has been saying all along. I dont know what this says.

With Rob McClelland it was the same thing. Kevin Rudd has been saying, for a very long time now, that he was against capital punishment wherever it took place. He said he condemns it, even if that meant criticizing other countries. Recently the country remembered of the Bali bombing of 2002. While Australians have generally condemned capital punishment especially when one of our own was at the receiving end, there was only muted objections to the execution of the Bali bombing perpetrators. It is understandable. Over 80 Australians were violently murdered. While inconsistent, the muted objection to the bombers’ execution was totally understandable. So no Aussie pollies voiced objections against capital punishment, certainly not during the anniversary of the murder of 80 Australians. Well one honest polly did – Rob McClelland the shadow foreign minister. Kevin Rudd however, decided the gallery must take priority so he went against his shadow foreign minister and gagged Rob, never mind that Rob was only saying what Kevin has said all along. Add that to the dossier of Kevin Rudd’s hypocritical acts, and you’d get a picture of someone you cant really trust, someone who tells you what you want to hear, not what he actually believes in and would do.

I’m afraid if the polls are accurate and Kevin Rudd becomes PM, we’d have a smooth media presenter with a chaotic and out-of-tune cabinet lead by a smooth but not to be trusted operator. Dont tell me we are going to get a Malaysian-style cabinet, please…

Moving In


We moved into Vicki Street on Saturday 20/10/07. I had taken leave from work the day before. There were myriads of things to do. I had also left work early on Thursday, to collect the keys from the real estate agent. That happened around 4pm and almost immediately after that, I went back to our old place at Hotham Retreat, picked up the vacuum cleaner and some scrubs and cleansers, and headed for a cleaning mission. I had no idea how to properly clean a timber floor. I vacuumed cleaned it at the first instance, and when it looked clean enough, proceeded with the other parts of the house. It didn’t help that a minor gout attack has been niggling all week. The attack lingered right through up until Monday morning, when to shake off the tiredness and to some extent the lethargy of the packing, moving, unpacking, sorting and yet more cleaning and tidying, I headed for the gym to do a quick 30 minute run and some stretching. 

Early Friday morning (on the eve of the move), I did some minor touch ups in Hotham. I was up at the usual time, and after a quick coffee and quiet time, I started by fixing up the smoke alarm. I then loaded boxes into the station wagon we had loaned from A Hooi the night before (along with some tools). By about 8am, kiddo was getting ready for school and after fixing her a skimpy brekky with what’s left in the pantry (some eggs and milo), I took her to school. I had to drive very slowly as the completely overflowing wagon was feeling like a wagon from some black and white western. I don’t know how many horsepower was on tap for a Commodore wagon but I was probably using just half of a very frustrated horse. The hurrying parents all sending their kids to school must have sworn at me holding up traffic as I practically tip toed to kiddo’s school.  It was just a blur after that – unloading boxes and touching up everything. I stopped for a quick coffee towards 11, and headed back to Hotham to dismantle the beds. In between dismantling beds, I loaded yet more boxes and waited for the fridge guys to call to let me know when they were going to deliver the new fridge we had bought to replace the much smaller older one.

That happened close to 1pm, after which I cooked the penultimate packet of instant noodle sitting in the Hotham pantry. Seldom does a packet of instant noodle feel so effective and satisfying.

It was back to the bed dismantling after that and as I’ve had practice with this task before, it was a whole lot quicker. The house looked in real shambles after that so I had to quickly rearrange the mattresses with the doona and pillows in a condition fit for one last night’s shut eye in Hotham. The bed ends and bases lay in different parts of the house and I then had to secure some bolts in the washing machine to get it ready for the move. That turned out to be a 2 person job as someone had to pull the drum of the washer forward as the bolt is secured at the back, so I went back to loading boxes. 

I picked kiddo up from school a bit after 3pm, and we went straight to Vicki again to unload more stuff. It was great to have kiddo with me – always better to work with someone else instead of alone. By about 5.30pm, I was almost flat as a Siberian battery so we headed back to Hotham. Kiddo and I sat down to a drink and watched “Deal of No Deal” for a bit before I hit the showers. Theresa got home a bit after that and we took more stuff to the house and went for dinner at Sofia’s – quick, cheap and satisfying…

After dinner we had wanted to go to church for a special session but I was very tired and there was more stuff to do so we went to the Vicki street house for a while before heading back to Hotham to spend our last night there. 

Saturday was again a blur – Theresa was up very early, I slept in a little later than her but was still at the kitchen sipping coffee by 6.30. We loaded the cars with more stuff then waited around for the removalist to show up.  At 8.30 I rang them and they said they would be there within the hour so Theresa and kiddo went off first. They dropped my dry cleaning off before heading for Vicki Street. I waited around, and loaded yet more stuff into the wagon. They showed up at 9.30 and for the next few hours, heaved, lifted and panted. The piano was of considerable challenge.

It was the same removalist we had used when we moved into Hotham and he had used a truck with a hydraulic lift before (when we did not have a piano) but this time he showed up with a larger truck but without that hydraulic lift (when we had a piano). So between the 2 of them and I we maneuvered and exerted with all our strength to get that piano onto that truck. Several times I thought my heart was going to fall out, as the piano looked like it was going to topple over. I should have trusted his expertise though as he did the job alright, even when we had to unload the piano into the study at Vicki Street. This morning that piano underwent a tuning process and hopefully kiddo would be happier with it. 

When the removalist had finished and has been paid, we tidied up a little (the rags and old blankets left a lot of fluff) and grabbed a quick lunch before heading back for more work. This time I had to assemble the beds back in order. Then it was to put the PC back into action, after being decommissioned since Friday afternoon. The cables, monitor, printer, webcam, microphones, speakers, modem, telephone, all had to be reconnected. When that was done and the PC turned back on ok with the broadband reconnected, I had to then move on to the audio visual stuff. When that was done, A Anne telephoned saying she wanted to drop in to let us have a wedding invitation. Matt was getting married to Aida on the 9th Nov at St Patrick Cathedral in East Melbourne. They came by, sat around and chatted for a short while. I was conscious of the fact that I was sweaty and probably didn’t smell too well but what the heck. 

By around 7pm we hit the wall again and so freshened up and went to “Proud Peacock” a restaurant in Glen Waverley we have come to love recently, for a quick meal. We then went to A Hooi’s to return the wagon. A Anne was there so we stayed and chatted for a while. It was almost midnight when we left. I woke up on Sunday morning with a very heavy head and a swollen middle toe. It was going to be a hot day – it turned out to be the hottest October 21st for the past 80 years – with a forecast maximum of 33 deg. By around 8.30 am as I was moving some empty boxes into the shed at the back yard, it had already hit 25 deg. We all decked out in short sleeve cottons to head to church and when I got there and was asked to help with the communion, I could feel both my toe and my head sweltering.  Church turned out to be pretty good. The youth – Ray and Eugene – did a fantastic worship session and David Searle finished off the last of his 4-part series on the 7 churches of revelations, with a bang. By the time we left church close to 1pm, my head was pounding and I told Theresa I couldn’t head to Hotham for the vacuuming, as originally planned. We went home, I cooled down and rested for a bit and allowed the headache to clear before heading out to Hotham again, just after 3pm.

We spent a couple of hours there vacuuming, and tidying and finished just before 5pm.  We headed back to Vicki, I started on dinner, did some ironing and then ate the first home cooked meal as a family, in the new home. We then made a virginal go at the dishwasher and settled down to watch the John Howard and Kevin Rudd debate. Or rather, I did. Theresa went to dreamland within 5 minutes of the debate and kiddo was in the study, finishing off her homework. I packed lunch, got my clothes and gym back ready for the morning and crawled into bed just after 10pm, probably falling asleep within 10 minutes. It has been a long weekend but hopefully, the start to a phase where we can bless others through our new home.

Cameo Kevin


Is Kevin Rudd the opposition leader and according to many pollsters the prime minister in waiting a fake? Or perhaps a flake? I used to think he’s a pretty decent guy. I once read an article where he exhorted Dietrich Bonheoffer as his hero. Dietrich Bonheoffer is a heavyweight in theology and was a brave and vocal critic of Nazi Germany. It was therefore quite something for Kevin Rudd, a labour leader, to openly admire him.

With recent developments however, I’m not so sure anymore – it is increasingly a case of a slick politician trying to pull one over as many as possible. He may have targeted that Dietrich Bonheoffer article at a specific audience to buy them over, without really believing it himself. Dietrich Bonheoffer would have had no hesitation in confessing Jesus as the Son of God. Kevin Rudd on the other hand, dithered and fluttered and hummed and hawed before stumbling over “I go to church regularly”.

That’s not good enough, Kevin. Don’t say you are a Christian just to get the Christian votes and by the same token, don’t deny Jesus is the Son of God just to get the non-Christian votes. If you stay true to a course, you may get the votes of those who don’t agree with your course but admire and support your courage in staying true and publicly stating your ground. By playing both sides, you may well end up losing both blocks of votes as neither want a fake flip they cannot trust. The fact that you rely so much on focus groups tell me you have a media management approach and would pander to whoever would deliver the most important numbers. That is not providing leadership; that is more marketing.

I would be taking a closer look, over the course of the next few weeks, at what Kevin Rudd has to offer. To a large extent, I already know what John Howard is all about. I may not agree with some of the things he does but at least I know what he is likely to do. With Kevin Rudd, the only certainty I have is that he changes his position all the time.

Final Weekend in Old House


The company launched a product a few weeks back and last Friday, a party was held to celebrate that launch. I stayed back longer than planned and actually had more to drink than I would have liked.

Saturday morning therefore was a bit sore but after a lot of water and some coffee, we started work on our packing and other preparatory stuff for the move in a few days. We continued to pack the odd items of books, CD’s, pictures and other stuff like that. Then the guy who bought our fridge (we decided to get one with a larger capacity) decided to pick it up that morning itself. I had agreed with him that he would call a few days ahead before picking it up but it seemed the right time notwithstanding the late notice and also notwithstanding that we would be without a fridge for 5 days. So we cleared the fridge, starting with the notices and magnets on the outside.

We went out to do a final pre-settlement inspection of the new property, came back to attend to the guy who picked up the fridge, and took Kiddo out for some lunch before dropping her off to tuition. We then went to shop for a replacement fridge before picking Kiddo up from her class and going home to cook some instant noodles for our own lunch. Kiddo wanted to do a video presentation for a church friend’s birthday party so we busied ourselves with that and helped her out. We tried to figure out how to transfer a presentation mounted on Microsoft’s window movie maker to a DVD which can then be played back on a dvd player hooked to a television. It didn’t work and she had to settle for a USB mounted format, to be played on a PC.

When she was ready, we sent her to the birthday party and then came back to pack some more. I dismantled the DVD player cabling, the DVD recorder, the play station stuff and all the speaker units from around the lounge area. The area behind the TV was dusty and that was when I picked up a nasty eye-irritation which stayed on well into Monday. My eye became steadily more red and teary, and by Sunday morning had taken on a bit of a swell as well. Anyway, all the AV stuff were packed away and the TV area now looks so bare. The whole house is actually starting to look bare – fridge gone as well. In their places, though not directly, are boxes stacked ini a couple of corners. I hope they find their way to  the new home safe and sound, in a few days’ time.

It was pretty late at night when Theresa and I decided to cook and eat some of the thawed food which we had removed from the fridge earlier in the day. We made some pork ball soup and microwaved a large piece of salmon. After dinner and washing up, we finally got a chance to put our feet up but couldn’t go to sleep as we had to pick kiddo from that party. That only happened around 11.30pm. My eye had also deteriorated and I was beginning to think if it might be a spot of conjunctivitis.

Church the next morning was a bit tricky as I woke up with a very red and swollen right eye. It didn’t hurt but it was very just a slit and it was constantly welling up with tears. The fact that it didn’t hurt gave me a lot of comfort as conjunctivitis would have been painful. All of the external signs suggested it was – it could possibly be a case of God protecting me and the family by sparing the pain and minimising the contagion effect.

Catching Up At Home


Stepping back to catch my breath  I left for home early a few days ago, taking the afternoon off to spend some time with Kiddo. I felt I have not been in touch with what her life has been like lately, and that she needed some input on the home front. I got home around 3, and we went out for some coffee and ice cream. We sat down, talked and I caught up with what’s been happening in her life lately.  She’s got a whole range of songs in her iTunes collection – songs I’d never imagined would find a place in our home. She knows all these songs and can sing along with most numbers. She’s totally part of this iPod generation, I guess. I asked her why she would want – why anyone would want – anything more than say, 10-20 songs in her iPod and her response summarises the fact that I don’t get it. I don’t, I guess.  I don’t get why you’d have more than the number of songs you’d listen to at any one time. On a typical day, I ride something like 45 minutes each way, on the train and tram. Even if I had an iPod plugged into my ears right through, that’s approximately 15 songs. For a return journey, assuming I’d only listen to each song once, I need a maximum of 30 songs. That’s what – 250MB? If she needed more songs, it’s a simple act of plugging that iPod into a PC and load up or swap around. Like most people her generation, she’d probably sit in front of a PC some time during the day anyway. So I don’t get why anyone would find it necessary to have a 4GB or 8GB iPod. Maybe this generation has a thing about having everything on call at the press of a button with minimum hassle.   After coffee and ice cream we drove around a bit, then we went home and we talked some more before doing some other fun stuff like watching video clips and playing a play station  game. While I felt terrible leaving work early when things have been busy at the office, I felt this was necessary to try and get kiddo and I back on track for a bit and for me to see how she’s doing. I hope she found this as beneficial as I did and that we’d have a continuous “centring” process like this. CSI I’m not quite sure what it is but it isn’t Crime Scene Investigation. It’s a group at work which does some charity work and does stuff like selling chocolates for funding. I think it means corporate and social involvement or something like that and its pet project (pun intended) is sponsorship of a guide dog. Last Friday afternoon, it organised a barbeque where it sold sausages, veggie burgers and soft drinks. It also asked staff to come in to work in casual clothes and those who do so contribute a “gold coin” ($1 or $2). So for the privilege of wearing my khakis to work and having a veggie burger and diet coke, I paid $5. The better bit must be the hour or so spent at the park where the barbeque was. Just idling on a park during lunch on a warmish spring day was really very pleasant. This was the sort of work environment I had imagined being in, when I thought about moving over to Australia. Yet it is almost 3 years later before this happened and it doesn’t look like it would be the norm.  I guess globalisation means competitive streaks have crept into every nook and cranny of every trading nation. No longer is there anywhere in the world where you’d head for an easier workload or more relaxed lifestyle. Someone mentioned, during the barbeque lunch, that it was the first time in a few weeks he had taken a whole hour off for lunch. That has been true for me as well, with lunch often meaning a quick bite at the desk or a quick dash to the takeaway around the corner. Instead of the fabled 38 hour week the average Melburnian professional probably puts in easily 50-60 hours on the low end and closer to 80 hours on the other end and that is probably a conservative ballpark estimate.  I don’t know what quite to do. On the one hand there is enough work to keep me going till late on most days. I probably should (work later), just to keep up. On the other hand, I don’t want to fall into the trap of getting into a work cycle which robs me of a normal family life – ie, one where the family regularly eats together and everyone talk to everyone else every day.  This didn’t use to happen in KL, where there were many weeks when I talked to kiddo only on weekends. As always, balance is the Holy Grail.

Kiddo and Work


Stepping back to catch my breath  I left for home early on 2 days ago, taking the afternoon off to spend some time with Kiddo. I felt I have not been in touch with what her life has been like lately, and that she needed some input on the home front. I got home around 3, and we went out for some coffee and ice cream. We sat down, talked and I caught up with what’s been happening in her life lately.  She’s got a whole range of songs in her iTunes collection – songs I’d never imagined would find a place in our home. She knows all these songs and can sing along with most numbers. She’s totally part of this iPod generation, I guess. I asked her why she would want – why anyone would want – anything more than say, 10-20 songs in her iPod and her response summarises the fact that I don’t get it. I don’t, I guess.  I don’t get why you’d have more than the number of songs you’d listen to at any one time. On a typical day, I ride something like 45 minutes each way, on the train and tram. Even if I had an iPod plugged into my ears right through, that’s approximately 15 songs. For a return journey, assuming I’d only listen to each song once, I need a maximum of 30 songs. That’s what – 250MB? If she needed more songs, it’s a simple act of plugging that iPod into a PC and load up or swap around. Like most people her generation, she’d probably sit in front of a PC some time during the day anyway. So I don’t get why anyone would find it necessary to have a 4GB or 8GB iPod. Maybe this generation has a thing about having everything on call at the press of a button with minimum hassle.   After coffee and ice cream we drove around a bit, then we went home and we talked some more before doing some other fun stuff like watching video clips and playing a play station  game. While I felt terrible leaving work early when things have been busy at the office, I felt this was necessary to try and get kiddo and I back on track for a bit and for me to see how she’s doing. I hope she found this as beneficial as I did and that we’d have a continuous “centring” process like this. CSI I’m not quite sure what it is but it isn’t Crime Scene Investigation. It’s a group at work which does some charity work and does stuff like selling chocolates for funding. I think it means corporate and social involvement or something like that and its pet project (pun intended) is sponsorship of a guide dog. This afternoon, it organised a barbeque where it sold sausages, veggie burgers and soft drinks. It also asked staff to come in to work in casual clothes and those who do so contribute a “gold coin” ($1 or $2). So for the privilege of wearing my khakis to work and having a veggie burger and diet coke, I paid $5. The better bit must be the hour or so spent at the park where the barbeque was. Just idling on a park during lunch on a warmish spring day was really very pleasant. This was the sort of work environment I had imagined being in, when I thought about moving over to Australia. Yet it is almost 3 years later before this happened and it doesn’t look like it would be the norm.  I guess globalisation means competitive streaks have crept into every nook and cranny of every trading nation. No longer is there anywhere in the world where you’d head for an easier workload or more relaxed lifestyle. Someone mentioned, during the barbeque lunch, that it was the first time in a few weeks he had taken a whole hour off for lunch. That has been true for me as well, with lunch often meaning a quick bite at the desk or a quick dash to the takeaway around the corner. Instead of the fabled 38 hour week the average Melburnian professional probably puts in easily 50-60 hours on the low end and closer to 80 hours on the other end and that is probably a conservative ballpark estimate.

Momentum in Malaysia


Riding on a momentum in Malaysia 

Malaysia seems to be on the verge of very positive stuff. I have just received another email (one of many in circulation, I’m sure – I am now in receipt of at least half a dozen each week). This email contains a letter/article written by a veteran civil servant critical of the current leadership and recent events. 

The author of this latest letter/article is actually a retired state Chief Police Officer who was also a senior Special Branch man. He thought the IGP (highest ranking police officer in Malaysia) at the time he was state CPO (Tun Haniff) had great integrity and served well. He wouldn’t have been a career cop if he had anything less than unwavering belief in his higher ranking colleague so his glowing reference is to be expected. I would have been more inclined to believe him had he not given a similar stamp of approval to the next IGP after Haniff, which is Rahim Noor. Apart from Rahim’s criminal assault on Anwar (and created the most famous black eye Malaysia has seen), Rahim has been known to be accused of many other sins. For this CPO to allude to Rahim’s assault on Anwar as an aberration means his other accounts have been badly coloured.  

So what was so good about a hackneyed and somewhat biased piece by a retired cop? It demonstrates the point that a number of people have now spoken up against the sins of Badawi’s government and his band of thieves. This ranged from royal family and retired big wigs to ordinary office men or business owners. Many agree something has to be done. In fact, apart from the dominant party of the ruling coalition, I think most people think something has to be done. Many are of course asking what can be done. The lawyers have gone on a march. A march by a couple of thousands of lawyers with widespread press coverage is a rarity in most societies, let alone Malaysia. So that was great. But apart from speeches and articles and marches, what else can be done? 

Many have resorted to prayers. As a Christian I believe in that very firmly. I know prayer changes things. I have advocated prayer (as a cure for Malaysia’s problems) for many months now. However, just as we do not just pray when someone is sick (we send him to a doctor) and we do not just pray when we are hungry (we go out and find food), so we should also think about what else we can and should do with the malaise plaguing Malaysia, even as we pray. Someone once said that a miracle is to keep doing the same thing but expecting a different outcome. What can Malaysians do which haven’t been done before?  

I think those who can, should lead a peaceful revolution. Those who can are the non-political Malay professionals, technocrats, teachers, office workers, housewives the Chinese and Indian businessmen, professionals, teachers, office workers, housewives – ie, everyone! Or, almost everyone – anyone who has up until now limited his or her political activity turning up on polling day to check off a ballot paper – can participate in this. It can be a very simple act. For example, organize a day where everyone collects the household rubbish, put it in a black garbage bag, and take a drive to the nearest and highest ranking politician’s office and deposit that bag of rubbish there. Call it rubbish day. Ideally all this rubbish can be deposited at the front of an identified person – Fairuz, Khairy, Badawi, Rafidah, anyone who is easily identifiable and can be a symbolic figurehead and representative of the stink that has become unbearable for most Malaysians. That is just step 1. I don’t know though if even a simple act like this is something all Malaysians would be bothered with. Any concerted efforts which is non-violent but sends a loud and clear message, ought to be a great first step. Someone should capitalize on the momentum and do this, I feel. 

Full-on (and therefore un-relaxing) weekend 

A good mate of mine is in town right now. He flew in from Malaysia a few days ago with his family. They’re here for a final reconnaissance trip, before making the move in December this year. They’re looking for a house so last night he came over to our place and used the internet to do some research. They were here from around 4pm and by the time they just a little after 9pm, I was so knackered I could barely stay up a minute longer. I think we all were. It was a bit of a hectic weekend. 

Earlier yesterday afternoon, as we were limbering up to leave church after a long lunch there, I received a telephone call from a friend. She said her car was on fire and she wondered what she could or should do for the insurance. After my jaw stopped dropping, I told Theresa what happened and we both drove straight from church to this friend’s house. We arrived some 20 minutes later and when we sent into the driveway, we saw that the front of their Camry wagon was almost completely burnt off and the smell of burnt rubber and plastics was still hovering about.  After giving some general advice on what she could do, we hung around and chatted with her and another friend who has also come to just be around. We were all old friends, and shared a flat together in our university days back in the mid to end 80’s in Sydney. As we chatted, we reminded ourselves it has been over 20 years since those relatively carefree days. We only left when my mate rang and said they were at our house! 

Earlier that morning, we had busied ourselves getting ready for church and the lunch which followed thereafter. We left home earlier than usual, I dropped kiddo and Theresa off, stayed around to chat with a few people and then left to pick up another member and her mother and baby. They’re from Hong Kong and have been attending our church for a few months and we recently offered to give them a lift to church. The baby is absolutely adorable and I suspect she has begun identifying me as the taxi man as she no longer look at me as a stranger and even smiled and waved at me. She’s only about a year old and contrasts well with another baby in the church, also about a year old and a girl, who is much chattier. They are now both friendly to Theresa and I.  

So from baby hugging to lunch preparation and wining with mate, yesterday left me tired this morning, when I struggled to get into the gym. The reduced 30 minute runs I have these days wasn’t as laboured as I was afraid it would be but I am still one luc short of a bright and chirpy fellow.  Saturday was no better – after the usual weekend house cleaning we dropped kiddo off at her mate’s place in Canterbury. We also spent some time with that mate’s mother, who just had back surgery and was recuperating at home. After that we went and did some shopping, collected some boxes to do some more packing and got home by about 2pm. I lugged a whole bundle of clothes down for ironing and by the time I finished, the footy grand finals was already half way through. It was obvious then the cats were going to win this one and end that other drought plaguing Victoria. When the lead stretched to about 70 points soon after half time, it was a question of whether Port Adelaide was going to be able to ward off getting beaten by the greatest ever margin in grand finals history. It turned out they couldn’t and the final 119 points margin was something coach Williams was going to take some undoing.  As the final quarter was drawing to a close, I started cooking dinner.

We were supposed to meet at A Hooi’s house to prepare the dessert for the lunch next day. She was going to cook a curry and I volunteered to cook some noodles to go with it.  Theresa had gone to someone’s house in Box Hill earlier in the morning to collect some heavy duty pots for this. I cooked the noodles, Theresa went to pick kiddo up from her mate’s place and we made our way to A Hooi’s. The peeling, cutting and dinner finished by about 9pm and by the time we got home it was close to 10pm.