R I P - Goldie (22nd May 1998 - 29th July 2008)

Just a little somethin somethin to get the mood going from the previous post....its called 'Lemonade' by this singer called Passion...how appropriate..

She's my sunshine in the rain
My panadol when in pain yeah
Let me tell you what she means to me
Like a tall glass of lemonade
When it's burning hot on summer days
She's exactly what I need.....

She's soothing like the ocean rushing on the sand
She takes care of me
She helps me be a better man
She's so beautiful
Sometimes I stop to close my eyes
She's exactly what I need.....

She's my smile when I'm feeling blue
She's my midnight sleep when the day is through yeah
Let me tell you what she means to me
(Yeah she's kinda like this)
Kinda like the feeling after your first kiss
Except that everyday she makes me feel like this
She's exactly what I need ......

Its cha boy fooey...

Ive been out of this whole blogging thing for sometime now, but after a conversation with a 'friend' last night whilst on the way back to Singers', I just had to put down in word how I feel the youths of today, myself included, are handling the demands of life. This is not a 'u-should-do-it-this-way' message because everyone has their own way of operating their lives, but more of a general description of how the youngins' of today are responding to the requirements of achieving a successful life, financially that is.

'T' is a good friend, someone of whom I have 'befriended' since the age of 16. We did hook up over a span of a couple of years, but it didnt work out and things went nasty for while. Im glad that its much, much better now, and I would love nothing more than to just enjoy the friendship that we currently have. She was complaining to me about a guy friend of hers of whom just graduated with a degree in IT at the age of 24. According to her, this bloke is a wild cat who loves nothing more than to hit em' up in clubs and have a good time. Apparently, he is now desperately looking for a job that offers him a salary of >$10,000 so that he can live the good life pronto. And to cap it all off, without realizing how Singaporeans work, she mentioned that he is seeking to find that dream job down here in Singers', with the main reason being the benefit of the exchange rate between the Sing dollar and the Ringgit. No offence, but the first thing that came to my mind was," rightt...good luck mate!". Let me give you the run down.

People say that in Malaysia, the Malays are so dominating that we, the minorities, are denied everything, so much so that we are treated as second-class citizens. I agree to this statement, but there is also a part of me that feels as if it has nothing to do with me. You see to me, this statement mainly only applies to people from the previous generations, not mine. It is simple; the people belonging to my parents' generation are the ones who had to go through the shit life. Now that they have been rewarded for their hard work, we, their kids, are just merely the beneficiaries of their struggles over the years. Doesn't this make us just like the Malay kids who have been given everything? I certainly see the equation. So to me, there's not much difference between a Malay kid and a Chinese or Indian kid anymore. Yes, the Malays are still the domineering race, but the margin between the races have been significantly reduced. This has made us, the youths of today, very lackadaisical. We basically have so many options in our young lives that we forget about working hard and making something out of ourselves. Once we enter into the workforce, all we care about is making the big bucks. Just ask any young starlet, including myself, "what are your plans?" and you'll probably get the same answer,"I wanna be financially stable and independent".

Now I don't blame us for having this mentality. Circumstances are such that the competition for survival are hitting new heights by the day. The increased costs of living has made the world a more competitive place to live in. The relationship between the supply and demand of basic necessities is much like a race between a rabbit and a turtle. While the price of basic necessities for our daily comsumption increases by the quarters of a year, the same can't be said for our pay where it takes ages before there is an increment in our monthly salary. Check this out. According to my dad, he only had to fork out 50 cents for a bus trip to KL from Kajang, 20 cents for a bowl of noodles and $20,000 for a good-conditioned car back in the 70's-80's when he was just starting out. Compare this to RM4++ for a bowl of noodles and $80,000 for a car at this point of time. And all this with the spending power of pretty much the same, around the $2000 figure as a starting pay. Its a miracle how people are still surviving!!

I believe that we aspire to be financially independent only by looking at the lives of successful people who have made it big. For example, just look at our parents'; the house, the cars, overseas trips, the financial stability, shopping..etc..etc. All we see is the good stuff. Realistically, I think it is more vital for us to see how they got there. Do you think Lim Goh Tong, an uneducated Chinaman who travelled by boat to Malaya with nothing but just 3 sticks of ciggies in his pocket and ended up a multi-billionare had it easy? I definitely doubt it. People talk about his assets, how much he earned, how big is investments were, how great his life was..etc..etc.. BUT, does anyone talk about how he had to face life-threatening situations when he started his journey trekking through the jungles and hills with his bare feet just to find a location that suits his plan of building a resort on top of a hill? Does anyone think of how he, with no guidance and technology whatsoever in those olden days, had the courage to even pursue such a plan when the odds were a 100% against him? Does anyone know that even when he was 80 years old, he still made frequent trips to the office to oversee matters that didn't really need his overseeing? Does anyone know that during the early stages of the 'Genting' project, he worked from dusk till dawn, sometimes through days, that he very rarely saw his family?

I think it is time for us youngins' to be more realistic. Yes, times have changed and if we have been given the means to spend from the sheer hard work of our parents, we should take advantage of this gift that has been given to us. But this doesn't mean that we should take it easy in life. We can't expect to be paid $10,000 a month when we start out in the workforce. Neither can we expect ourselves to be millionares by the time we reach 30. Not to say that we can't, but it is essential for us to take one step at a time. We have to come to terms with this truth. We can all aspire to be like Lim Goh Tong, and there is nothing wrong with having big dreams. But we must remember that it is only through the pre-requisites of hard work and perseverance that will give us any chance of becoming people of substance. It doesn't matter what career path we pursue as this fact applies to everyone. Golfers must be prepared to sweat it out under the hot sun, mechanics must be ready to get dirty, auditors' must be prepared to burn the midnight oil and doctors must be prepared to be on standby 365 days a year. This is the world at its most competitive best. T, please enlighten your friend with these facts.

Holler...