Root Directory:

Huckool.Com HuckoolBlog.Com Blog 2009

Index Menu:

Index Bullet Points Photography

Entries:

January February March April May June July August September October November December

06/03/09 - It's been a long, hard week, for a number of reasons. I've had typically long hours (self inflicted) at work the past couple of weeks, but I've also had a lot of news from Malaysia. I was on the phone to Victoria for an hour, having not spoken to her all of last month, and heard that Gabriel, who attended the Petaling Jaya church, had died on Wednesday. It must be terrible for his young family at the moment, especially his two boys, who I think are only aged seven and three. Atleast the family still has the church to support and comfort them.

In other Malaysia news, Jeya (who has four kids already) recently had a baby boy, and Victoria will be going to Chennai next week. I was quite intriged by a news article I read online (link) about a 'mafia' in India, mutilating healthy street kids and sending them out begging (like in Slumdog Millionaire). This is quite a contrast to what I saw in Tamil Nadu, where child begging was quite a rarity, and I don't recall a single mutilated child (or even adult) out there. I guess things are more developed or patrolled in Southern India (especially as Kerala has the world's highest literacy rates), whereas severe greed has taken over the metropolis of Mumbai.

I had been thinking a bit lately about the possibility of settling in India (in Tamil Nadu, of course), as a future alternative to the rapidly modernising Malaysia, but not being an Asian by blood, I don't think independence in India is really for me. I've been cheated and played around far too many times in Malaysia, so I doubt I'd survive long in somewhere like Chennai. I should make better use of the people I know in Malaysia, use people like Victoria as a mother figure more (which I'm sure she's happily been the past four years), stop shying away and trying to be independent. My friends (the decent ones who've earnt my trust) want to help me, and I should take it for granted, as not everyone living abroad can be so lucky.

Lastly, I've added a number of friends from work to my Facebook contacts. This is quite a unique experience for me, as I haven't really been in an environment where I've known a number of people both in person and online. It's interesting seeing a lot about their lives (mainly through photographs at parties etc.) outside of the work place, and learning about their character through what they display publicly, which can spark some random friendly conversation. On thing's for sure though, it won't give me cancer, like the bored science teams are speculating.

13/03/09 - Just when I thought it was going to be just another week, constant and uneventful, I got a letter from work. Actually, it wasn't a letter, it was an update of my contract, which says it only lasts until May 25th 2009, four days before I go on holiday. I don't know if they'll renew it or not, but I was hoping to be with the store for atleast a year or two, so I can raise some solid emigration funds, so I'm hoping I'm not cut short early. If they don't renew it, then I'll probably just have to extend my next holiday...

Facebook has changed its front page layout again, and I really like this new, more sophisticated design. It does annoy me though, all these tech-no-logic-at-all people that complain and say 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. If there are improvements to be made, and competitors to fend off (like Twitter), then they should do whatever they can for the good of their site. MySpace took a long time before it decided to play catch up with Facebook, and it's lost out a lot because of it. Why do people find change for the better so difficult to adapt to? I bet that's what Stalin thought during his day...

I only just found out Comic Relief was today, which shows how much I keep up with the media. I'm interested to know how well the funding will go this year, with a recession going on at the moment. But like all years, I won't be making a contribution; it's nice to have these fun, sponsorship days, but despite over twenty years of service, and over £600 million in donations, there hasn't been a huge change in the poverty scene in Africa. The UK should know from it's own experiences that when you create too much welfare for others, the people become dependable, and produce more children than they're capable of looking after...

20/03/09 - The ten week countdown has begun before I go back to Malaysia. The schools in Malaysia had a break this past week, but unfortunately I couldn't be there, despite how much I had wanted to book a trip for that week earlier this year. I did have one day of holiday this week, but decided to make it a thirteen hour working day, with a three and a half hour 'holiday' in between shifts. Due to this, my manager noticed I had been working too many hours, and told me to cut down. I even had some over time cut this week, and was told to just do my contracted hours for that shift.

It is annoying having to have limited hours, but I understand why they do it. Supermarkets are very flexible working environments, which I'm sure would be appealing to most people, but to have unlimited free-for-alls on working hours wouldn't be fair on those nine-to-fivers (even if they do get the whole weekend off). Makes me even happier to have not gotten those office jobs in Folkestone now...

After over six years, and 5,000 clicks later, I'm finally making an effort to promote my photography work on the internet. After weeks of deciding my very best photographs, I condensed the 5,000 into just over 140 as Featured Content. I was suprised by the response time when I uploaded them onto other sites, but networking sites are the easiest and best places for feedback. Their only downfall is that their sites have limits in quality or quantity, which is why it's best just posting a select amount of the best, and giving a link to the main site, where I can freely edit the displaying of my work as I please (in ways other sites can't).

27/03/09 - What should have been 'nine weeks to go till Malaysia' is now 'eight and a half weeks till Malaysia'. After my boss did some paperwork, I inherited five contracted hours for Friday evenings (so someone who actually goes out on a Friday evening has that freedom), and about a week's worth of holiday (for working on the upcoming bank holidays), and some of that holiday was placed before my current holiday in May, which means I get three extra days in Malaysia, and get to go three days earlier too. Ahh, how I love flexible working environments.

Jade Goody finally passed away this week. The media storm required for this 'significant' event really shows how dumbed down this country is now. What exactly did she do again? She appeared on Big Brother twice, first as a bimbo and second as a racist, had perfume made in her name, and practically sold out her whole adult life to the media. So this is the modern day British women's role model? From the likes of Princess Diana to Jade Goody. Hasn't this country suffered enough?

Saturday evening, this past week, my parents and I were invited out for dinner by my brother, with his girlfriend and her family. It seemed a strange coincidence, meeting my brother with two seniors, two young women (who were sisters), and an eight year old girl; very similar to one household in Malaysia I visit, Ashwini's family in Taman Tun, which has her, her sister, her parents (who are quite senior), and Theeba, who's now nine. Talking of Ashwini, I'd like to wish her a Happy 16th Birthday. Even though I can't contact you right now, I hope you're safe and well.