it's another new year!

crap, the new year is fast approaching and i have yet to come up with anything solid for my resolution. then again, the hell with new year's resolution...i'm just gonna live my life the best i know how. heck, everything is turning out just fine for me hahaha.

but i have done some personal retrospection and i'm very well versed with my strengths and weaknesses and i realized that i haven't lived up to my true potential. so, come new year i will live up to my reputation as the guy you wanna hang out with (that is if you can accept my sarcastic, sanguine and care-less attitude haha) because generally, i could be fun and interesting if i wanted to or given the situation hahaha.

yeah, i intend to do everything and have fun every chance i can get without compromising the coolness in me by being in a relationship or flirtatious liaisons hahaha. i know this may sound sick, but i am honestly enjoying my life as a single pathetic dude...i'm not even considering to have a housemate to share the burden! hahaha. despite loving the solidarity, i do miss my pals back home, especially the ladies who could make me laugh like no other (yeah, the gidiots haha).

okay peeps, time to hit the sack. merry (belated) christmas and happy new year! cheers :D

christmas what?

normally, at this time of the year i would be enjoying myself with lots of booze regardless of whether i am with family, friends or alone. but this year around, not only am i not back in my own hometown, i even got the fever which puts my christmas celebration plannings, which is not exactly fun to begin with, to a stall. so, what did i do on christmas eve and day?

obviously, there's nothing much to be done when it feels like you're on your deathbed hahaha. i've been sleeping alot, been swallowing panadol pills and cough syrup and been watching reruns of Bones, CSI and Eureka (good thing my astro was activated right before the holidays haha).

despite feeling uncomfortable and weak, something good actually came out of being sick:

a) it inhibited my need for a cigarette.
b) i've been sleeping alot, which means i've been catching up on my much deserved rest.

well, so much for christmas optimism. in my case, no miracles happened and i am stuck with spending christmas alone with only my tv and internet hahaha.

Cheers :D

bribery is a two way street :)

how trusted can our law enforcers be? now that is the question. all my life i have never resorted to bribe someone to get my way around, or even thought of accepting any form of bribery. not because of moral ethics but simply because i was never in a position to commit such unlawful deeds. but a recent experience has given me a different insight on why bribery still persists despite the widescale efforts to curb it, yeah...i experienced it first hand.

to cut it short, i was asked to pullover by a policeman for cutting a double line. i admit i was at fault and willing to accept whatever was thrown at me but even then, i didn't think of trying to bribe the officer. but what was supposed to be a quick affair was dragged on for another 30-40minutes with the officer asking (or maybe trying to make small talk) silly questions. after 10 minutes, i kinda knew what the officer wanted, but i wasn't going to take a chance of being caught red handed for offering bribes.

throughout the conversation, i took note of several hints which the officer was subtly suggesting:

a) Minum Kopi (drink coffee)

- when my colleague sitting next to me tried to get a pardon (which i told her not to. you can blame it on my ego but i wasn't going to beg for a pardon of something which i clearly did. my reason was, he was just doing his job), the officer rebutted, 'saya cuma menjalankan tugas, kalau tidak, lebih baik saya lepak di kedai sambil minum kopi' (i'm only doing my job or i would be better off drinking coffee in a shop).

b) Gentlemen

- he kept on asking me, how am i going to settle this and i kept telling him, 'if it is already my fault, just give me the ticket and i'll settle it at the station'. but he kept asking the same question over and over again and said 'okay, let's be gentlemen. how do you say we should settle this?'

c) Price Naming

- Unsure of my own judgment, i played along being the naive and innocent road user. he then called me out from the car and he proceeded to bombard me with the same questions and this time i told him 'there's nothing much to be done, if you give me the ticket then i would have to pay at the station, end of story'. then came the gentlemen talk again, and by this time i was pretty sure he wanted a bribe so i told him 'saya cuma boleh bagi 2 *ikan merah' (i can only give two red fishes), i learned this trick from my policemen classmates back in Uni. instead he said *ikan merah cannot cut it and i asked what is it does he want, of which he replied 'RM50'.

i found it bold of him to quote the price straight away and frankly very dissapointed. i've heard stories of how the law enforcers are mostly made up of corrupt government employees, but i didn't think i would actually meet one personally.

anyway, in my defence i would like to state that i would be okay to pay the RM150 fine. but i was quite curious on how does one get involved in bribery hence the unlawful and unethical action :D. but this wouldn't have taken place if the officer did not pester us and just issue the damn ticket straightaway :p.

*ikan merah (red fish) is a term to describe a RM10 bill.

then again, i'm not blaming the officer for what had transpired. after all, it takes two to make it happen...

DAMN YOU ASTRO!!

it's few minutes to 12am and i just got back from work. thinking i might be able to relax and enjoy whatever is showing on the tv, i actually convinced myself that the tiredness would subside once i plopped myself on the couch and do some channel surfing.

the 15minutes drive back home felt like it was worth signing up for the ASTRO services despite their slow activation, i was pretty sure my account would be activated today after the numerous complaints to get it up and running. unfortunately, that wasn't the case. the moment i switched on the tv and decoder, the same frustrating message appeared on the screen 'Please insert the correct Astro smart card or call the Astro customer service for assistance'. my anger suddenly rose, i decided to call the customer service representative to vent out my anger. while waiting to be patched through the rep, i reconsidered the option of blowing the head of the next unlucky person who answers my call...i decided to vent my frustration instead of anger because, being more or less in the same customer service oriented field, i kind of understand what it feels like to be suddenly shouted at by an unknown stranger.

'good evening and thank you for calling Astro, this is Mona speaking...(or some shitty greeting like that)'

'yeah good evening Mona, my name is Jeremy and my IC number is XXXx.......', in a very monotonous tone. it sounded fair to introduce myself and give out my ID number straightaway knowing that they would be asking it anyway.

'how may i help you mr. jeremy?'

'this is my third time complaining and i would like to have a straight answer, when will my account be really activated?'

'when was the your astro installed sir?', i was kind of pissed off at this stupid question. i wanted to shout at her, 'woman, i just gave you my full name and ic number, i've even told you this is my third time complaining. can't you just look into the system for heaven's sake?!!!'...yeah, but i did not. instead, i politely replied in the same monotonous voice, 'last saturday'.

'could you wait for a moment sir', of which i replied yes.

after one or two minutes of being put on hold to listen to the crappy music or message that was played, 'thank you for waiting sir, i've checked in the system and it'll take approximately 2 weeks for your account to be activated'.

'TWO WEEKS?!', i raised my voiced a little bit. i wanted to bring up the previous response which said that my account would be activated within 24hours (which by this time, it has been more than 48 hours since my last complaint) but thought it would be a waste of time. 'tell me, what's the point of having my decoder installed just to wait for it to be activated in 2 weeks time or probably more? it sounds silly doesn't it?', i was hoping she would get my hint that if i were to wait for two weeks for it to be activated, i might as well sign up two weeks later instead of spending rm200 for the recent installation.

she went on to explain something about a system upgrade which i didn't really give a shit, 'Mona, i'm not blaming you for the bad service, i'm blaming your company. Please do understand my frustration, i just came home from work and i was hoping i might be able to enjoy some kind of entertainment on my tv. but after three days of continuous complainings, nothing has been done yet and you expect me two wait for another two weeks for my account to be activated? that is really unacceptable. if you look in the system, it has been noted that my request is urgent. is this how you (people) treat urgent matters?

silence...

'mona, like i said, i'm not blaming you for the slow service. but what i would really appreciate you to do is send a note or an email to your management or anyone for that matter, and tell them i would like my account activated tomorrow before i come back from work at 6pm. can you do that?'

'ok sir, i will send them a note, but i cannot guarantee that your account will be activated tomorrow'. for those working in the customer service line, let me remind you that this is not the answer you want to tell to your frustrated clients because we do not want to know that it cannot be done. be smart, play around with your words..give them something tactful to look forward to. one golden rule is, just do not lie to them.

'i don't care, just tell them that i would like my account activated tomorrow by hook or by crook'.

i dont think i sounded like an ass did i? i was merely stating the obvious.

anyhow, this wasn't a good day for me. just this morning i had to bribe a police officer to keep him from giving me traffic violation fine..but that will be another story to tell in my next entry...

cheers peeps...