The Good Samaritan dilemma

Last week while driving to church, I saw this guy by the side of the road.

An Indian guy who seemed to be poor and homeless, as I can think of little other reason why he would be sleeping on the grassy curb by the roadside.

As I continued to drive by, I felt bad for the guy and I wanted to help him by giving him something to eat, at least. But if I were to go back and buy him food, I'd be late to church. And I realized I was I was in the Good Samaritan dilemma.

For those not familiar with the story, this is the parable of the Good Samaritan as told by Jesus in Luke 10:30-37:

Jesus answered, "A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. By chance a certain priest was going down that way. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way a Levite also, when he came to the place, and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he traveled, came where he was. When he saw him, he was moved with compassion, came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. He set him on his own animal, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, and gave them to the host, and said to him, 'Take care of him. Whatever you spend beyond that, I will repay you when I return.' Now which of these three do you think seemed to be a neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?"

He said, "He who showed mercy on him."

Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

The priest and the Levite were the 'religious' and supposed good people of that day, but they walked right pass the guy who was half dead and in dire need of help. Along comes a Samaritan guy, and in those days, the Samaritans were despised by the Jews just coz' they were a 'mixed' race (bunch of racists!). And the guy who got beaten up, was probably a Jew. But the Samaritan helped him anyway.

So I was thinking, if I had driven right on to church without helping the guy, I would have been just like the hypocritical priest or Levite. And I was like "Dang, this is gonna bug for the rest of the day if I don't do something".

So I turned the car around, went to the nearest Mamak restaurant, bought a nice pack of food, including rice, chicken, mutton and an egg, which came up to RM8.20. Drove back to where the guy was still sleeping on the curb, and went over to him with the pack of food.

I was a bit worried on whether he would try to do something funny like attack me and try to steal my handbag (which I had left in my car, just in case). So I woke him up, and put the food next to him, saying it was for him but kept a bit of a distance away, getting ready to run if I had to. It's unfortunate that the level of crime these days results in people like myself developing such a sense of wariness, even over a homeless guy.

Anyway, the first thing he did was ask (not in a rough manner though) whether I had any water for him, which I didn't. Then he asked if there was chicken in the pack, and I said yes. Only then did he say thank you to me, and opened the pack as I went back to my car. It was from there that I took these pics.

He was still lyging down and eating by the side of the road!

Well, at least he looked like he was enjoying himself.

Anyway, I left after that, wondering where the guy would get his next meal, or wondering if he's actually homeless in the first place or just a bum wandering around pretending to be homeless but actually has a nice place somewhere. Such crazy things do happen in this world! But at least the guy didn't ask me for money... that would have been way too obvious. After all, some of us do dout the sincerity of people who come to our tables at restaurants during meal time, begging for donations for one cause or another. But I guess all I could do was assume the guy was actually homeless, and I did a small thing to help him out.

I guess for the rest of us who have a good home, nice clothes, choice of good food everyday, etc,etc.... it's a reminder to be thankful for what we have and not complain about silly little things in life that really are quite insignificant compared to having no place to go or food to eat. :)

The Good Samaritan dilemma

Belated Valentine's Day musings from boyfriend job applications to Rock Band weddings

It's been 3 weeks since I posted my boyfriend vacancy ad, and since the application deadline on Valentine's Day is over (happy belated V-Day to everyone, by the way), I have received a grand total of...

*drumroll please....*

ZERO applications!!!

Ah well, I supposed it's not much of a surprise, since my job requirements included "Must not be stupid, boring or annoying", which disqualifies at least 50% of the male population, the rest of which probably already taken, are too old for me or are my wonderful male friends who read my blog (just so you don't give me the look of death next time you see me 0:-) )

So now if you are a guy actually interested in me for God knows what reason, you have to go through the normal long and boring process of courting and sending hints that I may or may not interpret to mean anything, instead of the simplified job application method. Bleh. It get's old after a while.

Since we're on the topic, it might surprise most to learn that unlike the average female that dreamed about her perfect fairytale wedding since she was a young girl, I actually have never REALLY thought about what I want for my wedding. However, there are some thing I would really love to do for my wedding, if by some miracle I am able to con(vince) a guy to marry me, which are:

1) During the tedious pre-wedding photography sessions, in between dressing up in all those super traditional Chinese costumes and prancing around in some garden somewhere, I want the make-up lady to make up me and my hubby-to-be too look really old. As in like septuagenarian old. Complete with grey hair and thick glasses. Then we take a portrait photo looking like old foggies, and that will be the main photo in our living room as a daily reminder to both of us that THAT is the goal... to be together til' we're old foggies (unless we die first of course, but having a cremation urns with our faces on it as a wedding portrait isn't quite as romantic).

2) The song I want to be played during our wedding march down the aisle - "You" by Kutless. It's a Christian song, but it could pass as a mushy love song if played on regular radio, it's got great lyrics, and I love the fact that it's done by a band that normally does loud, headbanging type rocker songs. I did mention that my guy should appreciate rock music. :P

3) Option of either a funny wedding dance, although this is quite overdone, if you just search for "funny wedding dance" on Youtube!), OR... since I have friends who I play Rock Band with on a regular basis, they can be provide my wedding music, such as follows.

Yeah, no surprise why I'm still single. *yeurk!*

Belated Valentine's Day musings from boyfriend job applications to Rock Band weddings

Kopitiam Kopicats

I have a theory that hidden somewhere in Malaysia, there is one secret factory or company that owns the sole rights to produce dining equipment for all the kopitiams in Malaysia. And by kopitiams, I don't mean the traditional Chinese coffee shops, but those newfangled modernized kopitiams with free wi-fi where people go in with there with their laptops so they can look cool in front of people they don't know. That includes me sometimes, but I have an excuse coz' my internet at home sux to the max. These places have different names but all look pretty much the same. Don't believe my theory? Let us view the evidence and then play a little game.

Exhibit A: Old Town Kopitiam, Taipan USJ


Exhibit B: Old TASTE Kopitiam, Taipan USJ


Exhibit C: Hainanese Kopitiam, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail


The game now is to Spot the Difference. What differences do you see? Far as I can tell, only the uniforms of the workers are the three shops differ. Other than that, everything else is the SAME.

All three shops have huge pics of food and the menu displayed above the counters.

The drinks and food counter at all shops is out in the open for everyone to see.

The chairs are the SAME!

The round tables are the SAME (Old Town has some square ones though. Whoop de doo)!

The lights are the same!!

Even the tissue boxes look the same!!!

So now I'm wondering of all these kopitiam owners are really so unoriginal, or are they trying to ride off the success of the 'original' modernized kopitiam by making it all look the same?? Which one is the original one now I also dunno, though I suspect it is Old Town. -_-

Kopitiam Kopicats

If there were no choices...

Last week I was coming back from an outstation trip and being driven home by a guy friend, with his brother and another gal in the same car. As I had just recently moved and they weren't familiar with where my new place was (not that they were really familiar with where my old place was either...), I had to give them directions. At one point we came to a junction, and I said something along the lines of "Ok, you came keep to this (the middle) lane, but it would be better to keep left coz' you have to turn left right after you make this right turn". My guy friend who wasn't driving, and also happens to be particularly blunt person, promptly turned around and asked me if he could ask me a question. And since his question on whether he could ask me a question was rather unexpected but suspicious, I didn't have time to come up with a witty reply other than a wary "Yeeesss?".

"Why is it women always have to give choices when they are giving directions?" he asked. Then he went on to explain that whenever women gave directions, they almost always give choices like "You can turn left or turn right here", which men find really annoying. He said that he would appreciate it if a person giving him directions only gave him ONE route and simple directions, without the driver having to make any decisions. "Turn right here. Turn left there. Keep to this lane. Don't go on any other lane til I say so..." etc, etc. My friend's brother who was driving supported his brother's comments by adding, "Yeah, if you tell me that I can either turn left or right, I'd stay in the middle and bang into the divider!".

I, being a woman, was of course rather intrigued by this line of thought. I mean, to me, if someone tells me I can either turn left or right, I simply make a choice and turn either left or right. I don't get all hung up over having to make a decision while driving! But after some thought, I realized (or should I say, had a revelation?) that this is probably significant evidence of one of the most fundamental differences between males and females. My revelation is... men HATE making choices.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that men are incapable of making choices, or that they tend to make bad choices. When they have to make a choice, by all means, they can do it, and they are just as likely to make bad choices as, well, women (although some people might differ on opinion on that aspect, but that's another debate!). However, I believe, men would prefer never to have to make a choice if possible. And if they have no choice but to make a choice, they will choose the most convenient option available.

Think about it ladies! Why do you think guys don't like shopping? Well, it could be partially because they hate sitting around for half an hour waiting for their wife/ girlfriend / daughter to decide between the pink top and the blue one. Or it could be partially because they hate having to carry around all your shopping bags, including your handbag (which will immediately be termed the 'man-bag' by any friends of the poor man who happens to see him in that predicament). But even with any females out of the picture, men STILL don't like shopping. Because when it comes to shopping, there are TOO MANY choices. Which brand to buy? How does the price of one brand compare to another? What about the quality? Most women would happily scout around to see what are the options available and make a decision from there. But for men, the more options they have, the more it drives them nuts. As long as they find an item that meets their needs, no matter what the price, they can't be bothered to go hunting for other options anymore... they just buy it. And this is why there is a saying that a woman can spend RM10 on an item that she doesn't need why a man can spend RM50 on the same item that he does need.

(Note: The only time this does not apply is when is comes to purchasing electronice devices or gadgets such as mobile phone, computers, tv's, etc. Only for these will men find out everything itty bitty piece of information about the device they want to buy and similar models, and compare all the specs of each model before deciding which one to buy. It is truly anomalous among the decision-making processes of the male species...)

Unfortunately for men, we all know that life is made up of choices, so making decisions is a rather unavoidable task for you guys. But I had a funny thought about what would a man's (almost) ideal world be like if my revelation was true and men could do away with having to make choices completely....

Scenario 1 - At the supermarket:
Sam: Hi, I need to buy some coffee. What do you have here?
Store clerk: We sell only Brand A coffee here, sir. And they come only in 25 kg bags and extra caffeine.
Sam: Extra caffeine. Sounds fun! I need some sugar to go with that too...
Store clerk: Oh, we sell only Brand B sugar here, which comes in boxes of 60 extra large sugar cubes.
Sam: Sugar cubes. Great! Good way to ensure consistency in my morning coffee. Right... and where can I find a new toothbrush here?
Store clerk: Those are on Aisle 2. We sell all large size, medium-soft brushes toothbrushes, with those flexible bendy necks, in fluorescent green. And pictures of Barney the dinosaur on them.
Sam: I love this place! Are you open 24 hours?

Scenario 2: Naming a pet
Mrs. Jones just bought a dog for her teenage son, Mike)
Mrs. Jones: Look at what I got you for your birthday! Isn't he adorable?
Mike: Alright! I've always wanted a dog!
Mrs. Jones: So what are you going to name him?
Mike: Hmm.... err... I'll get back to you on that....
(15 minutes later...)
Mike: I'm gonna name him Rufus Terminatrix!
Mrs. Jones: What?? Where on earth did you come up with a name like that
Mike: I got it online from the Most Awesome Pet Name Generator website! Don't you just love modern technology, mum?
Mrs. Jones: .....


Scenario 3: Getting married
Priest: Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the holy matrimony of Bob and Mary.... (*insert long speech here*)... and finally for the moment we've all been waiting for! Bob, you may now kiss the bride!
Mary: Wait! Wait! Aren't you supposed to ask Bob whether he takes me to be his beloved wedded wife, to love and cherish til' death do us part, or something like that? And ask me the same thing too??
Priest: Hmm...well, Bob has already asked you to marry him before during the proposal, and you agreed to his proposal. So assuming throughout the time of engagement and preparation of this wonderfully elaborate wedding, paid mostly by the groom, that the agreement is still valid, I hence fail to see the need to ask redundant questions. Go along, kissy kiss now!
Mary: But... but...!
Bob: I love this priest! But now as much as I love you! *smooooch*

If there were no choices...

A Tale of Two Mentalities

Yesterday, I had a problem with my work laptop. Actually, signs of the problem started months ago, as the laptop provided to me was an old model. I noticed it occasionally was making strange bleeping noises, and it was not normal kind of bleeps like the one you hear when the comp starts up, but it was coming directly from my hard drive, and every time the noises started, my laptop would hang for a while. At first it was not so bad, but eventually it got worse, and I brought it up to my company's IT guy, who told me they had just ordered some new laptops so most likely mine would be replaced. So I was crossing my fingers and hoping that my hard drive would hold out til then, but today the bleeping got so bad and my comp was being stalled for so long, I got really fed up and decided to tell my boss about the problem directly, so that he could decide whether or not get it repaired or allocate one of the new lappies to me. Since my boss was out of office, I sent him an email telling him about the problem. He has a Blackberry (for the uninformed, that's that nifty little phone, , so he got my email right away, and amazingly (to me), two minutes later, he gave me a call and told me that it wouldn't be a problem to get my laptop replaced. They had some spare newer laptops and I could get mine replaced the following week when he returned from outstation. And I was pleasantly surprised, and pretty happy that he responded to me so quickly, and he wanted to make sure my problem was solved as soon as possible (well, I was happy until several extreme loud bleeps later in the day, my lappy decided to pass out. That's another problem for me, but deviating from my post here).

The reason I am pleasantly surprised is because this issue reminds me of a time in my previous company, where I had a similar problem but received a rather different response. Just so you know, if you don't already, I'm currently working for an international company which has offices all over the world but not that well-known in Malaysia (and in my few months here, I've so far gotten to meet and work with colleagues from offices in other countries, which I think is pretty awesome, but that's deviating from my story again), whereas my previous company is a large government-linked company (GLC) that's very well known in Malaysia.

What happened in my previous company was that, although it was a well-established, supposedly good company, I and most of my colleagues on my team were not provided with work laptops when we joined the company. For several months, the story was that they had applied for the laptops to the IT department, but they couldn't get it to us for so long due to God knows what problems. It was like every week, they would tell us that the laptops 'should be coming within the next two weeks', but it would be delayed. So for the first few months, I had to bring my personal laptop for work.... and at the time, I hadn't yet bought my lovely red lappy. I only had a crappy old and bulky Compaq, with a keys that were not functioning properly, so I had to connect to an external keyboard. Imagine having to carry all that around outstation to my work sites! But I didn't even complain about that. The problem started when my personal lappy hard drive also started acting up, and my comp would just occasionally refuse to start up. Not very good for productivity, of course. So at a point when it got pretty bad, I also brought the issue up to my boss at the time and asked him to try and get the IT people to send the laptops to our team as soon as possible, not just for myself but also for the rest of my team. At the time, he seemed ok with my request. Later on, however, I did some things in my work which I thought was reasonable actions for any employee, but for some reason, it ticked off my boss and he got on my case a LOT (mind you, I work the same way in my current company as I did there, and my current manager and boss have told me they like the way I work. Needless to say, I'm pretty happy about that!). Won't go into the details, but in a nutshell, my ex-boss thought I was asking for or about things I shouldn't have been asking for. One of it, he brought up later on, was about me asking for the laptop. Apparently he thought that I was being too demanding for asking for the company laptop to be brought in faster.

Naturally, at that point I was blinking at him, and I believe my thoughts at the time were something along the lines of "What the @%$&??". And I was not the only one who got the rap for asking for a new comp. My other colleagues who didn't even have a personal laptop were stuck using a PC that was close to a piece of junk coz' it was very slow and ridden with viruses, so naturally they couldn't get much work done on it. Instead of understanding our problem and helping to get us new comps as soon as possible so it would increase our productivity, he gave us some whacked out, almost-sarcastic reply about how last time he didn't even have a computer to work on and we should be thankful that company is providing something, even if it's a piece of junk computer, or the laptops arrive a few months late.

This a tale of two mentalities. The first is the mentality of my expatriate boss who understands that a cranky laptop does not make for good work productivity, therefore he does not consider my request for a new laptop demanding. Instead his logical reaction is to get my laptop replaced as soon as possible. The second mentality is of a local boss of certain race, whom, when I ask for something more than I already have, even though it is for the purpose of improving my productivity and benefiting the company, his first assumption was that I was being demanding and that I wanted a new laptop for my personal gain. He completely ignored the fact that until I learn how to magically burp or poop out reports, I can't get much work done without a properly functioning computer.

Ok lah, I'll be frank at the risk of being shot down. My ex-boss was a Malay. However, let me clarify this is not an issue of race. I know a lot of very nice Malays, so I have nothing against the race per se. The issue here is the illogical management of resources (I'm talking about employees, not just laptops) of people such as my ex-boss, whom it just so happens that most (fortunately, not all) of these people are Malays. And I believe that the reason this mentality dominates among the Malays is it has sprouted from decades of a Malay-dominated government teaching that such a mentality is perfectly acceptable. The mentality is that it is better to be thankful for what you have already received from a generous giver, than it is to ask for more things, even though it will increase the productivity of the receiver and eventually the whole organisation (in this case, the government, and in my case, my ex-company).

We hear it all the time from Malay leaders, every time the non-Malay community gripes about ot having the same benefits as the Malays. One especially pertinent issue being the fact that many bright non-Malay students with excellent academic results do not receive scholarships, while their Malay counterparts with less than great exam results get a free ticket to study overseas from the government. The excuse given, or so I've read, is that our non-Malay forefathers agreed over 50 years ago after independence that we would get our citizenship in exchange for the Malays getting more benefits, and also this was because the Malays are the time were not faring well economically. Therefore, these politicians explain, we non-Malays should be happy with what was so generously given to us and not ask for so much. I suppose it's because they are so used to getting government hand-outs even though most of the time (not all the time, as there are some smart and hardworking Malays) they do nothing to deserve it, that's why it's more important for them to be grateful than to be productive. Yeah, not a very nice comment to make, but it's happening and you can't shoot me down for saying out loud what everyone already knows.

As such, most bright non-Malay students with excellent academic results who do not receive local scholarships, get offered scholarships by private institutions or even other countries like Singapore. And so many smart Malaysians leave the country to work else where and don't come back because they know they know there is no benefit for them simply because they are not Malay, and this had lead to the current brain-drain. If they had been given incentives to stay and work in Malaysia, no doubt the country would be doing much better economically, and this would benefit the whole country. But nooooonononono.... it is more important that we be grateful and accept what we have than to ask for better opportunities. In the end, when the bright non-Malays decide to jump ship, they get neither gratefulness or productivity. Isn't that a fantastic deal for our country?

Again, let me be very clear that this is not an issue of race, or even about the Malay's benefits. If our forefathers agreed that the Malays get more benefits than the non-Malays, then I'm cool with that coz' that was the original agreement. So people can argue about whether the Malay benefits should be dropped til the cows come home for all I care. My gripe is that even if more opportunities go to the Malays, I don't understand why they are willing to leave the obviously brilliant non-Malays in the dust . Since the government obviously can afford it, why not give scholarships to all the bright non-Malay students as well? Then at least the country will retain people who are good at what they do, which will benefit the Malaysia's economy in the long-run. Instead, the brilliant non-Malays who don't get government funding are usually given scholarships by other institutions or countries Singapore. Then the government complains that Singapore is stealing our people. Doh. >_< And education is just one area, let's not start about all the other areas in which business-savvy non-Malays who are good at what they do lose out just coz' our leaders can't take a step back and see the big picture on what will benefit the country in the long run.

Tis a chilling tale indeed.... -_-

A Tale of Two Mentalities