Personal

How much are you getting?

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speak no evil

Remuneration issues tend to be rather sensitive and most people employ the “Speak no evil” approach to surveys on wages. “The wages of sin is death” and all that aside, I’m very curious about the market rate around KL and Klang Valley (including other states in Malaysia). How much are you getting? Please state your chronological age, gender and profession if you feel comfortable divulging that information.

I’m happy with what I’m getting right now, but it’s just like the itch you can’t scratch. I’m just interested in the market trends for different professions.

Sharing is caring. 😉

(Curiosity also killed the cat, and I’m using way too many idioms in this post)

Couple T-shirts

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couple t-shirt booth

I’ve always been a hopeless romantic at heart and I love stuff like couple T-shirts. Levi’s produces designs every Valentine’s Day and although it may seem a little cheesy to some, I, for one, think highly of couple T-shirts. 🙂

couple box

I’m not adverse to PDAs as well, and I love to show my affection to my girlfriend. I was on the plane back last night, hugging and kissing her and one person who was sitting at the same aisle probably noticed us doing that but kept his peace.

couple t-shirt

Anyway, as we were waiting at the airport, imbued with heng tai (brother) courage (someone was driving him), he rolled down his window and said “Eh, never kissed before izzit?” (in Mandarin) before driving off. This is the local equivalent of “Get a room!” which I’ve never really understood. It doesn’t offend me, I think of them as jealous souls who need to get a girlfriend. 😉

couple us

I’ve always thought of affectionate couples as adorable, and I love seeing them as it reinforces the “hopeless romantic” Aries personality trait of mine.

I don’t know about other people though, how do you feel about it?

Why do I promote eating outlets for free?

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free or fee

This question was posed to me during my sister’s wedding dinner just now when I talk about my blog.

It startled me coz I’ve never thought about that or seen it that way before. Sure, the free or fee mindset is very rampant nowadays in the commercialization of blogs. Why do I do this for hotels, places, events etc etc without a fee?

…coz I don’t see it as promoting it for free. The world would be a sad place if everything is done for profit instead of passion, if the exchange of currency is involved in every single venture that we do.

Also, I see sixthseal.com as a springboard for me to bigger and better things – I’ve always wanted to be a personality on Discovery Travel & Adventure, going to different places and trying new things, experience new cultures.

I haven’t given up on that dream yet. 🙂

Happy Monthsary!

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monsary

The 28th of September, 2008 marks our first monsary – Happy Monsary, Melody! 🙂

The etymology of monsary from an amateur etymologist:

Monsary is a concatenation of the words “month” and “anniversary” and it has entered my vocabulary through a friend. A quick Google search revealed the usage of this term amongst certain demographics in the Philippines. It’s the first time I’ve heard about it and perhaps a social indicator that our relationships don’t last very long anymore in today’s fast paced, WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?) world. Relationship anniversaries have gradually shifted over time from annual to monthly, and I’m not sure that’s a good indicator.

Daysary anyone? 😉

My best fiend

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sms text

I’ve had a best fiend since high school. I did not make a typo, fiend as defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary is:

Fiend
(noun)
Devil, demon, a person of great wickedness or maliciousness

I have in fact dedicated two entries in the annals of sixthseal.com about my best fiend. The one post I remember back in 2004 was about schadenfreude – the German word for gaining pleasure out of other people’s misfortune, which he personifies.

Anyway, my fiend has been talking behind my back and generally spreading rumors about me. I was amused for a second this morning when someone related to me a really funny rumor that was so untrue (since the time line does not compute) but the bulk of what he said really annoyed me.

I called him this morning but he didn’t pick up so I texted him:

You have nothing better to do than to backstab me, spread lies about me and create false stories about me izzit? Is your self esteem so low or are you so jealous of me that you feel the urge to talk shit about other people? I’m not pissed off at you. I pity you.

It’s a bit harsh, granted, but friends, I mean, fiends, should be able to give honest opinions about each other right? 😉

…and I really do feel a little bit of pity for him. He doesn’t just do it to me, he does it to all his friends. He would talk about other friends behind their back, putting them down derogatorily, usually with other people who doesn’t know the person around. He never does it in front of the person, he pretends to be nice to everyone but he’s well known amongst our group of friends as being a backstabber.

I used to accumulate an excess of temperature beneath a circular, tight fitting clothing component (Get hot under the collar in unpretentious terms ;)) by his behavior but I’ve come to terms with it and not be bothered by it, since most people who have known him long enough knows what he’s like.

My friend (this is a real friend, not fiend, and different from the person mentioned in this entry) told me never to text or write or react when I’m angry, which is good advice. However, I look at things in the Drawing of the Three.

The Drawing of the Three by sixthseal.com
1. Is the relationship worth it?
2. Can the person help you in the future?
3. Will the person help you in the future?

If it’s no on all three counts, then by all means, flame away. 😉

The most important aspect of it is #1 and #3. #3 is more important in a business oriented sense. Just because someone can help you in the future doesn’t mean that he will. My fiend is definitely not someone who is willing to help any friends, since all he cares about is putting them down.

It’s like he’s trying so hard to be the good little boy that he doesn’t even realize the social skills and PR required in the real world. Well, it’s not my problem anyway, and it’s not my job to tell him, since I’ve tried that before and he never changes.

It’s like sending dense shelly concretions through the air to fall in front of stout-bodied, artiodactyl creatures. 😉

Pat yourself on the back if you can decipher that last bit. Heh!

Do you have a fiend in your life?

Life in the fast lane

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sorting head

I have been living life as if I expect to kick the bucket in 10 years. It’s not a subconscious thing either, it’s pretty obvious from the self-destructive tendencies manifested in my behavior and attitude. I drive recklessly, as if I want to get into an accident. I drink excessively and with abandon. I get into ludicrous situations and generally make a mess out of every good thing that I have left. I have fucked up relationships and pretty much destroy all that is good in my life.

…and I’ve been wondering why I do that. Suicide by hedonism?

I know my renal and liver function isn’t exactly at it’s optimal level (due to an unfortunate overdose resulting in an emergency dialysis done about two years back) but still the doctor reckons it’s all the years of substance and alcohol (a)buse that caused all that damage instead of a single isolated incident.

My friend recognized my self destructive tendencies despite knowing only a part of my life and asked me what made me this way. I couldn’t answer him – either I don’t know, or it’s so deep rooted that I don’t want to know.

He gave me a really good analogy though. It’s like I’m driving down a potential dead end 15 km down the road and since I know it, I’m banging up my car by knocking into the cliffs and roadsides and not caring who I run down in the process.

…but what if it’s not a dead end? What if I could navigate through but due to all the damage I’ve done to my car, I couldn’t anymore since the car is too banged up to make it though?

He has a point there. I shouldn’t be living my life as if there’s no tomorrow.

I shouldn’t be living from day to daze.

Neko

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neko

I saw a cat today at a grocery shop – it was very tame, sleeping on top of a plastic bin. I fondled, er, I mean caressed it and it didn’t flinch or even move but just gave a lazy meow. I love cats like these and it got me thinking about getting a cat. I have been deprived of feline company for too long.

I went to a pet shop and saw a Persian cat I really liked. I love her personality, she’s affectionate and playful, jumping at my fingers when I played with it and biting it (not seriously, just playfully). I love that cat and would have bought it home right away but it was going for RM 1,300 which is a little too high for my budget.

I’m still thinking about the cat right now. It’s very nice and her greatest asset is her playful and affectionate personality. She would make great lolcats posts. 🙂

I love cats and I want to get one to put in my room. I’ll give it a litter box and find a lint remover to get rid of the fur she’ll shed on my clothes and sleep with it. RM 1,300 is a bit steep though…so I’m thinking about other options.

I want a cat, it would make me less lonely. 🙂

A feline companion, so to speak. I hear it does wonders for depression and mood swings too. 😉

The evolution of Chinese names

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gf writing

This is my Chinese name as written by Melody. I don’t know how to write my own Chinese name except for the middle character (coz it has less strokes and thus, is easier to remember). The translation is “Fu Huai Bin” – pronounced “foo why bin” but it’s written as Poh Huai Bin officially coz that’s how the Heng Hua translate the Chinese character for “Fu”.

Poh (the first character) is my family name a.k.a last name. It’s inherited and does not have any significance to it. Someone told me a very interesting anecdote about family names though – he said that we don’t actually have family names. A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (actually, just Ancient China) we only have one name e.g.

Bin

Those are feudal times, so the lesser ones amongst us went to work for the richer (land owning) ones. Let’s say that I was born in a very poor family and went to work for a landowner named Poh. Back then, it wouldn’t be a 9 – 5 job but some backbreaking Biblical toil and labor stuff.

chinese name 1

Now, there are probably a lot of Bins out there so I’ll be called Poh’s Bin – to avoid being confused with, say, Tiong’s Bin. Thus, my name will literally be “Poh Ah Bin” e.g. The Bin from The House of Tiong.

Once, I’ve made it big and have my own property, I will have my own plot of land and have slaves working under me e.g. Fong, Tang, Ching, Hong. Tang will be called Bin Ah Tang “Tang from The House of Bin“.

chinese name 2

Over the years, we evolved with the times and started getting customized names. However, the Chinese never dropped the surname (family name) so the ones that are in current circulation were the rich and land owning folks from the feudal times.

I don’t know how historically accurate the anecdote is, but it’s quite interesting nevertheless. Anyway back to my name, the Poh doesn’t actually mean anything – it’s the family name/last name so my name would be Huai Bin.

phb chinese

Huai means Caring
Bin is made up of two words – Wen (Scholar) and Wu (Warrior)

so my name is The Caring Scholar-Warrior from The House of Poh.

…but please, just call me Huai Bin. 😉

Credit cards – boon or bane?

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visa gold

I have just received another credit card – it’s a Petronas Visa Gold card from Maybank with no annual fees for life with no conditions. I didn’t apply for it since I’m not a big fan of filling in forms, but someone from the bank called me and told me I qualify for one and asked if I was interested. I told her I don’t like filling out forms (seriously, I hate doing that) but she can go ahead and fill in my particulars for me if she needs the quota, I’ll just make sure there is no High Risk Credit Card Processing wherever I decide to use it

Well, I got a call yesterday saying that the Petronas Visa Gold is ready to be picked up. I’m actually quite lazy to do stuff like that as well, I remember a HSBC credit card that I never picked up coz the place is too far away from where I work. My girlfriend wanted to go to the bank though, so I decided to pick this one up during lunch. I figured it’ll be useful for gas since I pump petrol at Petronas and it’ll soften the petrol price hike with the points for redeeming petrol vouchers.

dapple

However, I have noticed that I always tend to overspend, which is why I don’t carry credit cards in my wallet anymore. I used to have several cards from different banks and ran up a huge debt when I started working. I have to admit that I was never any good at budgeting and I always spend way beyond my means. The amount of money I have in the bank at the end of the month is always in the single digits. Seriously.

Nowadays, banks are overenthusiastic in giving out credit cards – cold calling and going to the extent of filling in all your details for you. It seems that Classic (Silver) cards are reserved for students and fresh graduates starting work since they don’t even offer those anymore. They are very keen on giving out Gold and Platinum cards with high credit limits with impunity, which is great for the bank, but bad for the holder. I can see the potential of overspending on this card already.

I was talking to my girlfriend last night about going on a trip this coming holiday. She likes the beach so I was thinking either Krabi, Bali or Macau. Macau was my choice since there are casinos there and I have this inappropriate romantic sentiment that I’ll beat the house odds and win the trip costs back. 😉 It’s seriously a bad idea though, coz no one ever beats the house.

girlfriend

Bali would cost around RM 2,500 for the plane tickets alone for the both of us ex-Sibu and I think the total trip would probably hit the RM 5,000 mark easily with hotels and food. I shouldn’t even be thinking about it considering I can’t afford 5k right now (since I don’t have that much disposable income in the bank, and thus will be flying on credit).

…but the fact that I’m even considering it seriously is a testament to the fact that credit cards with high credit limits causes people like me to overspend.

I should be dating an accountant, the last girlfriend I had would have knocked me upside the head (coz she’s good at budgeting and all that) for even considering going on the trip. Oh wait, my current girlfriend is technically an accountant too. 😉

Oh well, I’m thinking about Krabi, Thailand. It’ll be cheaper than Bali and I haven’t been there before.

Hmm…should I or should I not?

Anyway, I haven’t given my girlfriend an official sixthseal.com moniker yet – I’m thinking Dapple (20% related to her name) or Melody (near 100% translation of her Chinese name). The relationship will remain under wraps until further notice due to prevailing circumstances. 😉

Drug addicts are not welcomed

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drug addicts

*high and mighty tone*
Hmph…then I’ll take my business elsewhere! 😉

HDS:

2002: University life in Australia.
2003: Working life in KL.
2004: Cigar review in Kuching
2005: Blogger’s block. It was an omen for things to come…I couldn’t find anything to enthuse over and it culminated in perhaps the best post of sixthseal.com (in terms of mainstream controversial content) on the very same day a year later. 🙂
2006: Psychotic break but not documented until two days later. 😉

lame suicide attempt

Hmm…it seems like I have some form of Seasonal Affective Disorder hitting me around this time of the year. My posts during this time has been, for the most part, uninspiring and almost mechanical but if the annual trend analysis produces consistent results, then this is where Exciting Things (TM) start to happen to me as well, and the writing will pick up pretty soon. =D

HDS (The Undocumented and Personal Version):

2002: I had no direction, and was in a long distance relationship I wasn’t really happy with.
2003: I had no direction and was in a dead end job paying me peanuts and trying to support an increasingly expensive methamphetamine problem. I was tweaked out of my mind most of the time and on benzodiazepines the rest of the time.
2004: I liked working in Kuching and the pay is much better but I’m still supporting a destructive pattern of methamphetamine use.
2005: I was probably coming down from a 3 day meth run. It’s increasingly affecting my life and has evolved into a schedule where I don’t sleep or eat for three (3) days in a row and then crash and sleep on the third night for 12 hours before wash, rinse, repeat. This pattern can be seen from my posting frequency and style but I hid it pretty well with scheduled posts (this was back before CMS had scheduled posts) during particularly inspiring periods while tweaking.
2006: The first real love of my life (not drugs, a girl) dumped me. I thought she was perfect, she’s a pharmacist (what more could a drug user want? ;)) at a renowned private medical center but she turned out to be carrying a Shitload (TM) of emotional baggage that she hid really well. She was 29 and I was 25 and I just worshiped her. Unfortunately, she has self-esteem issues (despite being really beautiful) and other miscellaneous Problem Accounts Brought Forward (TM). I had switched to using opiates and had problem with heroin and other opiates like DF-118 (dihydrocodeine) and methadone. I had a bit of a psychotic break with all the stuff I was using and tried to kill myself. Drama. Pffttt…
2007: I was in a drug rehabilitation facility missing The Great Outdoors (TM) and telling myself (for the umpteenth time) that anything would be better than this. I counted the months and days till I could get out and promised myself not to use again.
2008: I kept my promise and haven’t used drugs but am involved in a devastating pattern of unhealthy relationships with unavailable girls/women. Sigh…my so called life. Oh well. 🙂

Why is August so depressing? Is history doomed to repeat itself? Why am I doing this to myself?

My apologies for sicking this Pity Party (TM) on you. Misery loves company. 😉

The next post will be more uplifting, I promise. 🙂

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