Leaving on A Jet Plane

Leaving this Saturday to Selangor. Will be doing my BSC Chemistry at UPM, Serdang, Selangor. Will miss you all who are in Kuching. My Engineering friends who will be in Unimas; friends who are not yet leaving Kuching. My family, sis.. Will miss gatherings with you all. Will miss the food here; kolok mee, laksa..

There, a new chapter of my book opens. I promised I will work hard. I promised myself a bright future.

There will be times where little memories will creeps into my head, But I’m sure they will bring smiles to my face. Gives me strength and inspires me. I thank you all and I will never forget all. I will make new friends, that’s for sure, but my dear friends I’m leaving behind, you’ll never be ‘old friends’ but my ‘friends forever’.

I will surely miss you all. And I’m sure, we will meet again my very dear friends oneday, someday, it could be soon too.

FUTURE, I hope

F-ighting for something so
U-ncertain that my
T-asks and plans ahead are
U-ltimately hard and burdenfull until
R-est and time would be inadequate, but at the
E-nd, I will learn great lessons of life and yield great results.

MY P EXPERIENCE

Working as a part-time promoter for a brand in Parkson, tHe Spring, I am constricted to the strict rules of Parkson. From the first day I started working, I was reminded by my colleague to memorise ‘ The P Experience’. The P Experience; P stands for Parkson; was a guideline for staffs and promoters to provide warm and quality services to customers. The guideline starts from ‘ready for service’ to ‘customer approach’ all the way to ‘last impression’. I was giving a ‘pop quiz’ about ‘The P Experience’ by the Parkson Floor Supervisor about it. I just played along to the rhythm of the whole scenario.

Well, since ‘The P Experience’ is for Parkson customers, let me tell about ‘My P Experience’ with is one of an example of daily to daily situation for Parkson staffs and promoters. If following to ‘The P Experience’ guideline, I am supposed to greet every customer that went into my Brand’s corner. And I am supposed to ask what I can do for them and etc. But in Sarawak, we can’t do that, especially to Chinese customers. If I start greeting, they will give me a cold stare, or a weird stare. Some would just ignore. Some would actually got freak out and run away. Not every customer has a need when they walk into Parkson. I think the best way to sell a product is to let the product sell itself. Let them walk around the Brand corner and when they look at the promotions and products, it will build a desire to buy in them. And the best way for promoters to provide good P experience is to just stand, look and response only when customers ask.

Handphones. I thought handphones only have to be hidden from school authorities only. But in Parkson, it has to be hidden from Parkson authorities and CCTVs. Parkson has the rule of ‘No Handphones in Selling Ground’. I get it. You don’t want your promoters neglecting their jobs because of handphones. But your promoters need handphones to call their supervisors or receive calls from supervisors that is important to give your customer a very good P experience. You don’t want your customer to tell them ‘I don’t know’. Certainly, Parkson supervisor will not know details about the products because they are not Brand supervisors. If I am the big man in Parkson, I will rule out that handphones will be confiscated when they are seen using it in public. Handphones will be aloud if the user use it in hidden, and for work purpose only. Books and any reading materials are also not allowed inside. Don’t ask why.

Spot Checks. Yes, Parkson have spot checks too. And the think they confiscated in spot checks are stationeries and price tags. They confiscate stationeries that are not ‘declared’. Declare here means to stick a stupid sticker to say that this stationery so and so is Parkson’s and not stolen. My counter’s calculator was taken. I will take a very long time to calculate the figures for customers now. So much for ‘The P Experience’ for the customers. We promoters joke that if you accidently left your branded underwear inside the drawer, they will take it for declaration too. Price tags? I don’t know why they want to take away price tags. It’s theirs anyway. The reason, they said is, quoted, “counters cannot have too many price tags”. All my price tags were taken. So, my brand’s promotion cannot be done because we have to stick a new price tag on the old one every time customer buys according to the promotion. So, it’s harder for us to sell now. Thus, I have to go request for new stacks for stickers. Guess who will pay for those new orders? Parkson. They are wasting their own money actually, by confiscating their own price tags from counters.

Well, I can’t say working there is not all together bad. There are times when you have nothing to do at all there. If you can withstand boredom, working at Parkson is no problem for you. It’s just that those rules are annoying. My paycheck is from my Brand’s company and not by Parkson but I have to follow Parkson’s rules. Its really like ‘di mana bumi dipijak, di sana langit dijunjung’. It means at where you are, you have to abide the law of that place. If there are no customers, you can talk to your colleagues, or make yourself busy with stock checking. And you will be morbidly obsess with lunchtime, dinnertime, and go home time.

New Working Environment

Rather than spending the time ‘storing fat’ at home, I decided to work to prevent me from being lazy.

As a result, my first job was at a café. Bombastic Café. I got in when I asked my friend if there is any vacancy there. I started working the week after my STPM. When I started, I got the impression that my boss is not a friendly person towards workers (till now, he still is not). Since it opens only at night, I was to reach the café at 5.30pm. Then, my boss will arrive in his Proton along with his girlfriend, a kitchen staff and his mother. When the shops opens, my daily normal chores would be arranging the tables outside, carrying the chairs, mop the floor, wipe the table, prepare dining appliances, and filling the sauces in 30 minutes. The first thing my boss would do is making his kopi-peng. After that, he would play a CD and then sit outside and started lighting a cigarette, while we all are preparing the restaurant. My boss have a china-man mentality (pay little work a lot) and he is lazy. The only thing he lacks off is his care for the welfare of his workers and customers. To illustrated, when there is a lot of customers, and there is only 2 waiters serving, he won’t even give a helping hand. When we all were wiping sweat beads, he is smoking his cigarette while talking to his friends. Sometimes, he would hide behind the tree outside. There was this one case when a cockroach was found in the baked rice of a customer, my waiter friends was told to replace the food, and the customer was still charged. If I’m the boss, I would give her a free meal. His girlfriend I ‘respect’ the most, because she can use her relationship with the boss to get promotion and even change the menu! The restaurant is very dirty (literally) and there is always cases of rats running on the wall to the storeroom. If you are lucky, you get to see the boss chasing the rats out. And do you know, we workers are served for dinner with yesterday’s rice, chicken fat, and almost spoilt vegetables? Do you know when you ordered a chicken chop, a portion of your chicken will be cut off for later orders of chicken chop with rice? There was this case when I accidentally ‘poured’ the whole portion of Fish & Chips on a customer’s table. I brought it back to the kitchen and replace a new one for the customer. Guess what comes out for the next customer who ordered Fish & Chips; the fish that I ‘poured’; the difference is just that it’s cut to half. Do you know that when tips are left on the table, we waiters do not keep the tips? Our boss keeps them, in a piggy bank, beside the counter. Do you know if there is no customer, you get to see the boss flirting with his girlfriend? So ‘professional’. And I wonder why they would put on green eyes on After Three’s good business.

I’m glad I quit after working there for 5 months. Like the two longest people who ever worked there, we are all very happy without Bombastic. Gone were the days where I feel sorry for the customers. Gone were the days I feel the boss is insensitive. But, I do learn a lot. Like, how a restaurant business runs, how economy affects everyone, how to treat people better, customer relations, and finally I learned that there are many kinds of bosses out there. I think I have learned enough there.

After I quit as a waiter, I got a job as promoter for FILA in Parkson, at a local shopping complex. Actually, I like this job more when compared to my previous one. The upsides are that its in walking distance from my house in Kenyalang, the pay is higher, my FILA supervisor is not there but she is flexible and helpful, and I get to work independently in minimum supervision. The downsides are the strict Parkson rules, the customers, the lots of time spend there, ‘newbie’ condition I am in now, boredom, and the repeated songs that Parkson put on and on again. I’m grateful its not Christmas or Chinese New Year. It’s a brand new place to acquire brand new experiences and meeting new people.

I am looking forward for the new cinema of tHe Spring to open ^^ .

Sam-Pa Lau Finally Got Ticket to KL

Saturday

He went to MunSyI test at SMK Petra Jaya and answered 310 stupid and boring questions in 55 minutes. He doesn’t understand how this test can help him in securing his USM application as all the questions asked were totally unrelated at all. At 11.55 pm, he rushed to KIA to meet his family whom are waiting for him at the airport, thanks to his cousin who drove him all the way to the airport. As many of his trip to KIA, he’s always admire how beautiful the airport is, and how Sarawak can accomplish so much. He just felt bad that compared to the airport, Green Road still sucks. He managed to take-away his lunch at KFC when his mum is already urging the whole family to go into the departure hall. 12.50 pm. He was sitting at the departure hall, eating his KFC. He was the airplane, his first ride in Air Asia. This was one of his 5 air flights and he always enjoys flying. The feeling of taking off and the thrust of 4G against him brought exhilaration to him. Seeing Kuching city shrunk faster and faster, he silently said goodbye. He admired the floating clouds that look like cotton candies as the plane ascended up and up. He wondered how water can suspend mid-air to form white and fluffy clouds. There must be science behind it; he will look up into it when he got back from KL. He touched down safely and he thought he was in KLIA. But, he looked and looked but he didn’t feel like he was in KLIA because the terminal is messy and hot. Until he realised he was in LCCT and not KLIA that he understood everything; KLIA is next door. His uncle picked his family from the airport and on the way to the hotel, they stopped by Puchong’s market to eat Duck Egg Fried Kueh Tiau and Hokkien Mee. He ordered teh si peng special and his uncle asked him what’s the difference between Kuching’s teh si peng special and KL’s. He just answered that he doesn’t know, that’s why he wanted to try. The Hokkien Mee was his first ever of that kind of noodles and he likes it quite fine. Then they went to his uncle’s house before continuing to the hotel. His uncle’s house is beautiful, especially the lawn, which is his dream lawn design. Around evening, he finally managed to check into Peninsula Residence Hotel. His father got a nice studio suite for RM 700 for 2 nights. Then, his uncle sent them to Mid Valley Mega Mall at Bangsar. Like its name, the mall is the most massive mall that he could have ever been to; so big that it just make tHe Spring, Kuching a mere infant when both are compared together. One got lost in tHe Spring is an embarrassment but if one got lost in Mid Valle Mega Mall, its no laughing matter. He was impressed by the large numbers of foreigners there, unlike in Kuching, you only get to see once or maybe two in a crowd of hundreds. Later, his whole bought milks, orange juice, instant noodles and packets of bak guas home to their suite. Later in his suite, he couldn’t sleep due to the explosion of excitements that he’d going to have the next day. He was watching late movies to fill the time and often, the noise of motorcycles of KL’s Mat Rempit irritates him.

Sunday

He woke up to the sounds of vehicles on the road. He quickly brushed his teeth and got dressed. Around 10pm, they went down to the residence hotel’s restaurant for breakfast. Later, they caught a cab and went to Suria KLCC. At KLCC, they went to Petro science exhibition centre. He finally got to fulfill his childhood dream to visit the place. He spent half the day there. After that, they walk all the way to Aquaria KLCC. Before that, they had lunch at Kenny Rogers, and that is his most expensive meal. Then they went into Aquaria. It was his first trip ever to visit a huge aquarium like that. He saw many types of fish, separated with a horde of sharks just by a thick layer of glass, and saw countless of other species of land creatures. After going head over heels in the aquarium, they went to KLCC Park. It’s a huge park surrounded by gigantic buildings. He was impressed when they reached the playground as there was a lot of playground and a lot of children. While his sister was playing in the playground, his whole family sat near to the playground to keep an eye on her. One thing he noticed while he was in the park was the humidity of the place. There, the wind is not blowing at all, unlike parks in Kuching. He realised that the huge buildings surrounding the park actually block air flow and suffocate the park. It’s a draw back. But one thing he found intriguing is the dusk time in KL. When the time at Maxis Tower showed 7.00pm, there is still light and bright like the sun is one the way setting, unlike at Kuching whereby at 7 pm, its already dark and lights are on. But altogether, he was glad as he gets to visit those wonderful places that he wanted to go for a long time. They went back to the suite early at 8 pm because his brother had to retire as he would need to attend Shell Scholarship interview the next day.

Monday

The whole family went for breakfast at the residence hotel’s restaurant. After breakfast, they went back to their suite and his brother started dressing well for the interview. His brother’s interview was 12 pm and so his brother waned to arrive early. While his brother and father went for interview, he, his mother and sister went to the top floor to visit the swimming pool and gym. He tried the gym at first. After he was satisfied by the amount of sweat he produced, he switched places with his mum to watch over his sister who was playing at the children’s pool. What was hilarious was that when the door swung open due to wind, his mother got terrified and ran away from the gym right away; ghosts as what she thought. After that, they all rushed to LCCT again at once after his brother finished his interview. They sat and waited for 3 hours. At 7.30 pm, they are all in the airplane back to Kuching. He got to see the nice night view of Putrajaya just before the plane reach 30000 feet.

He will surely miss the feeling of glazing through the shy 30000 feet mid air. He will surely miss those humongous buildings at KL. He, who is I.

Nickelback – Gotta Be Somebody

This time I wonder what it feels like
To find the one in this life
The one we all dream of
But dreams just aren’t enough
So I´ll be waiting for the real thing.
I’ll know it by the feeling.
The moment when we´re meeting
will play out like a scene straight off the silver screen
So I`ll be holdin’ my own breath
Right up to the end
Until that moment when
I find the one that I’ll spend forever with

`Cause nobody wants to be the last one there.
‘Cause everyone wants to feel like someone cares.
Someone to love with my life in their hands.
There`s gotta be somebody for me like that.

`Cause nobody wants to do it on their own
And everyone wants to know they´re not alone.
There’s somebody else that feels the same somewhere.
There`s gotta be somebody for me out there.

Tonight, out on the street out in the moonlight
And dammit this feels too right
It´s just like Déjà Vu
Me standin’ here with you
So I´ll be holdin`my own breath
Could this be the end?
Is it that moment when
I find the one that I’ll spend forever with?

‘Cause nobody wants to be the last one there
‘Cause everyone wants to feel like someone cares.
Someone to love with my life in their hands.
There´s gotta be somebody for me like that.

`Cause nobody wants to do it on their own
And everyone wants to know they´re not alone.
There’s somebody else that feels the same somewhere
There`s gotta be somebody for me out there.

You can´t give up!
Lookin´ for that diamond in the rough
You never know but when it shows up
Make sure you´re holdin` on
‘Cause it could be the one, the one you´re waiting on

‘Cause nobody wants to be the last one there.
And everyone wants to feel like someone cares.
Someone to love with my life in their hands.
There has gotta be somebody for me
Ohhhhhh.

Nobody wants to do it on their own
And everyone wants to know they´re not alone.
Is there somebody else that feels the same somewhere?
There`s gotta be somebody for me out there.

Nobody wants to be the last one there
‘Cause everyone wants to feel like someone cares.
Is there somebody else that feels the same somewhere?
There has gotta be somebody for me out there.

I’m no superman, just a man

Decisions are always hard to make nowadays. Especially when you get older and older, experiences and responsibility is the two friends (or foe) that guide you all the way to you final decisions. No longer can we choose what we want to according to our own feelings; unlike when we are little, we just need to cry to get a whole box of candy.

This is but another post of one of my many ranting(s) about my tertiary education issue. It’s hard to see that one clear choice of mine means losing my parent’s dream home. If I am adamant into going to Curtin University, I would have to endure the look of mum’s face of losing her dream home.

Through uncertainties, after visiting education fairs and many Universities’ Open Day, I have reach a verdict that if I were to get into private University, my parents would have to sacrifice a lot just to pay for my cost of living alone, not yet mentioning the course fee.

When my dad, after long consideration decided to give up on purchasing a new house, I was a little heart-shaken. When my dad tell my mum that he decided to give up the purchasing of the new house for the sake of me and my brother, I could see a little glimpse of disappointment on her face. I feel like I am responsible. You see, living closer to town, with a beautiful house has always been my mom’s dream, and also our family’s goal. Finally we found one, and I have to take it away.

Oh how I wish I am superman, or the rich super-villain.

I am applying for cheaper courses at cheaper universities like Uniten or UTP and Public Universities. But, these applications are not as certain as my Curtin University’s application, which is a for sure to get in. My USM,UTP and Uniten application stands a chance to get rejected. My UPU’s application may result into getting a course I didn’t choose, a lousy course. If my applications on these Public U and GLC’s Universities is successful, then our dream home can materialize.

Money, a love-hate object.

Scholarships? I do apply for them. Working hard on them too. But my STPM result may not qualify me for any at all. It will be one grand miracle if I got shortlisted for any.

Oh boy. Life is hard on me. My STPM, my lowest point of life; now the follow-up dilemmas. I will need to, have to, become 1^st class scholar so that I will not let my parents down, so that I could get a scholarship when I am doing my 1^st degree. My sole aim now, first on the list when I am university. My parent willing to give up their dream home for me, I must never forget that.

I hope light will shine on me, and matters will be much easier for me. I pray for it. Always.

Through the lense

Went to Sibu, Miri, then back to Kuching in 5 days via the Red Wira.

Names

I was wondering how many people share my Christian name. So, I Googled ‘eric’. And came out this ‘Results 1 - 10 of about 197,000,000 for eric’. I guess ‘Eric’ is a very common name to have. And, I am just 1 out of millions. I still remember in my Form 5, I share classes with another Eric, and there are 5 Erics in total taking Form 5 in my school.

Then came along nicknames for me. Oh yes, it started when I was in primary 1 when every of my little classmates started to get smarter and learn words. Consequently, the name ‘Eric Soo’ would be the best platform for them to show off their newly discovered skill and words.

My first nick-name: Sony-Ericsson. Haha, I don’t know how they got the idea of associating me with the company name. Maybe the pronunciation of ‘Eric Soo Soon’ as in ‘aeric su soon’ is almost similar to ‘Ericsson’. This nickname I still will hear people pronounce once awhile.

My second nick: Susu. For obvious reason it’s derived from my surname ‘Soo’. Susu, for those who don’t understand Malay, means milk. The creamy milk. This nick lingers around me even till I get into secondary school. It all started with primary 1 when everyone started to learn Malay and till now sometimes people still address me that way. “Eh, soo soo” or “Eh, susu” which is the one they use, I can’t differentiate. But, my friends got more mature and they seldom tease me anymore.

They even got a song sang after my name: Oh yeah, I was in Form 2. One of my friends, funny guy, sang a Hokkien song. When he saw me, he will sing ‘su su yang yang, su su yang yang’.. then it later turns to ‘susu yum yum susu yum yum’ LOL as in ‘milk tasty milk tasty’.

Then, there is this: Kiasu.. Lol, it’s a term that means ‘afraid to lose’ in Hokkien. It can bring good meaning or bad meaning, depending on how the person uses it. But often in my case, its associated with bad meaning. Haha, I first heard people calling me that when I was Form 4. “What’s your name?””Eric Soo.””Huh? Kiasu!!!” ROFL.

This is odd: Erica. I was, am still I think, called ‘Erica’ by a couple of my friends. Hahah, by adding a single vowel, they refer to me as a girl. How did this come along again? Haha, but I join the laughs anyway.

Entirely unrelated nick: Santa. Huh? Why indeed. This nick was given to me about 1 year ago or so. I was told, its because I was introducing ‘Loving Hands Gathering’ about visiting sick children in hospitals to my friends. And they say its like Santa Claus. And they start imagining I’m a Santa giving children presents. That is how it started. I am a little proud of that nick because Santa means Saint. Lol.

I wonder if any other ‘Eric Soo’s out there will have the same experience as I do. (Results 1 - 10 of about 2,560,000 for ‘eric soo’.) Anyway, its not that I dislike or anything about all those nicknames and song . Haha, with little sarcasm and mockery, but that’s fine. In fact, I thank them for giving me names. Haha, maybe this how they chose to remember me, and I appreciate the efforts they put into remembering me. Haha, keep calling me names or even sing, I don’t mind. I might sing-a-long with you too.

I may be a normal plain eric among millions of Erics but I live my life for myself. And it doesn’t matter of how many Erics that share this common name with me, it matter most is how I make this eric name of mine distinctive and significant in my own way .

So world, ‘Santa’ or ‘Susu’ or ‘ Eric Soo’ or ‘Soo Soo’ or the song, I will still give a response. ‘Kiasu’ or ‘Erica’, hmm…, maybe, depends. Hahahz.

Grey Clouds

I have 2 choices.. 1 public U and 1 Private U. Malaysia is an education hub and its impossible not to find tertiary education unless of course you don’t want to study anymore.

For Public U, I have listed and submitted:

USM:

1. Quantity Survey

2. Chemical Engineering

Other Public U:

1. Science (Petro Chemical Major)- UPM

2. Chemical Engineering (Gas Technology)- UMP

3. Quantity Survey -UTM

4. Science (Applied Geology)- UM

5. Science (Geology)- UM

6. Design (Architecture)- UPM

7. Science (Nuclear Science)-UKM

8. Science (Geology)-UKM

All these courses are closest to my heart. They at least caught my attention or at least caught my eyes. My CGPA is 3.25 and I am not positive in securing these courses. Engineering is far out of the equation because all of them require CGPA>3.5 to be safe to secure those courses. So, I am picking those suitable for my CGPA and those my chances are higher.

But then again, before I came to Form 6, I set up my mind to be an engineer. Specifically to be a chemical engineer. I think its because of the lucrative high pay and the rewarding career prospects that I kept on hearing. My decision is mostly because of my Dad, of what he said before: ” I want you all (me and brother) to earn more than me, like I earn more than my Dad, and your sons will earn more than you”. Yes, its all about money. So, I choosen indirectly to be a chemical (petro) engineer because of money. Besides, I am interested in Chemistry since I was in Form 5, other than Biology. Beats me why I no longer find Biology interesting.

I have two other options for my Engineering degree:

Option 1:

Petroleum Engineering at UTP- The cheaper degree

Able to obtain a degree in this University will surely reduce my financial debt after I graduate. It will ultimately shorten the time for me to achieve my life goal which is financial freedom. Admissions will be open and hopefully I will be accepted. *cross my fingers*

Yes, this is what its all about: FINANCIAL FREEDOM

Option 2:

Chemical Engineering at Curtin University of Technology Sarawak – The expensive route

MYR 88k in debt after I finish my degree surely put me in a big debt. My goal will be push further back by 10 years. However, it will be a nice degree and one of the easiest way to achieve Ir. LOL, am I being too ambitious?

Then again, my Dad already gotten me enrolled into Curtin for July intake. I wanted to wait for everything to be settled, offer letters place on the table and researches done before I make my final decision. I want to make sure I make the best and wisest choice. Which courses will ultimately get me a nice job?

My big headache will arrive when I get an offer for 1 of my 8 choices, I got accepted into UTP and Curtin. It will be a 3 tight end fight. Each has its own pros and cons. I’m predicting this headache will be in June LOL. By then, I must finish my researches about those courses. What kind of environment and future each of them will bring.

Maybe its a guy thing for me to consider all this stuffs about money, research and pay rather than select a course out of interest and just go for it. One point is that I carry a family burden. I don’t believe my Dad’s EPF could support both my parents’ golden age and so far, I am seeing no signs of them keeping money for their old age. So, when I start working, I as the eldest would start carry the responsibility of putting my sister to school and making sure my parents are prosperous. Then, I have me to think about.

I just hope I will select the right course as this is the beginning of achieving my goal

I pray for the best, hope for the best and make the best decision.

“But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” Romans 8:25