pelf-ism is contagious

Yes, you read that right.. And I have been contemplating whether or not to reveal the new URL right here. There are people whom I want to keep the new blog away from but since I will not be blogging anonymously, they will somehow manage to find me.

And it is not that I have committed a crime, so I thought why must I sneak in and out like a thief, right?!

OK, if you like to read pelf-ism is contagious, roll over now to THE NEW BLOG. But if you do not like to read me, please don’t tell me about it, OK? :))

I think by now anybody who has landed themselves in my blog for whatever reason knows that I AM GOING TO KUCHING..

Yes, I am finally, really going to Kuching, for a 4-day-3-night getaway, which means I will NOT be blogging these couple of days..

Now, please tell me that you will miss me, and that you will await my return, muahahaha :)

Will be back on May 31st.. :)

P/S: Thanks, Laksa, for volunteering to organize the get-together. I appreciate it :) Will buy you coffee, OK? *winks*

I ripped these PostCrossing and BookCrossing links off Yvy's and needless to say, I signed up almost immediately! I said "almost" because I followed the links, told myself what interesting projects both were, went out for lunch, came back from lunch, re-visited both sites and then signed up for PostCrossing.

The concept behind PostCrossing is very interesting. Or is it just me?! Its tagline reads "send a postcard and receive one back from a random postcrosser somewhere in the world". Simply put, it allows you to send postcards to random members and in return, you will also receive a postcard from another random member. Apparently, "random" is the "in" thing these days, heh.

And since I collect stamps, I thought I might as well collect postcards AND stamps. Speaking of which, I think I need to get myself more stamp albums because mine are filling up very very quickly, thanks to everybody who remembers my "primary-school-hobby" and keeps them for me. Thanks again :))

On the other hand, BookCrossing is also a worthy mention. Its concept is even newer and rarer. You label a book with the necessary information, then leave it somewhere (Starbucks, Coffee Bean, your family doctor's clinic etc) and when somebody picks up the book, he/she will need to "report" it online.

The "problem" with BookCrossing is that the chances of losing the book is very high. You may leave it at Starbucks, somebody who does not have an Internet connection may pick it up and bring it back and the dog may play with it and then spoil it, and the book gets thrown away.

There are about 1,630 members who registered in Malaysia but only 21 books have been "released" so far, which means, there are only 21 books that Malaysian users have "placed in strategic places" and the last I checked, 14 books were released in KL, 6 in Penang and 1 in Langkawi. And I guess I will NEVER have a chance of spotting a book in Kuala Terengganu :(

Anyway, if you are free or would like to indulge in a new hobby, try these two links, OK? *smiles*

President John F. Kennedy once said "Ask not what the country can do for you, but what you can do for the country."

The problem with "sending" students overseas for tertiary education or for whatever reason, is that upon graduation, you do NOT expect them to return immediately and serve the country. I am sorry if it does not sound right to you, or if it hurts. Fact is, the truth almost always hurts, no?

Poor students (those from not-so-well-to-do families) who were sent abroad initially said that they appreciated the chance, that they felt indebted to the country for such opportunity, and that they would definitely return to serve the country once they completed their studies. BUT when they finally graduated, they said that they wanted to further their training and gain work experience. So now, the government gives them some "additional years" abroad with the hope that they will one day return to serve their home country. But then again, how many of them REALLY return? How many of them REALLY repay the government?

But of course, those who went overseas without financial assistance from the government may choose to stay in the foreign land for as long as they wished.

The government had already spent so much money in sending these medical students overseas and now it has to offer RM 4,000 to lure Malaysian specialists to return?! Does this not sound like a joke to you?! The "instant RM 4,000 pay-rise" sounds more like bribery to me, Sir.

So, one engineering graduate said that "if he returned home immediately, he will not be able to repay his loan even if he worked for 15 years." My question is, did he know about this BEFORE he left for Australia to further his studies? Did he not calculate the foreign currency exchange rate and the inflation rate and the interest rate before he took up the study loan? Did he not make sure everything was "in his favour" before he signed the contract? But the way he said the above statement gave me the impression that he was cheated into signing the study loan contract, and when he was called home to serve his home country, he said that he would need more than 15 years to repay the loan. Please do not forget that without the loan from the government a couple of years ago, you WOULD NOT even be called an engineer today..

But Sir, do you know that for those of us who took up the National Higher Education Loan, the default time given to us to repay the loan is 20 years? Of course there are plenty of cases where students avoid paying back the study loans. Yes, the authority tried to get these people to repay their loans but how many of us actually took notice of the periodic reminders sent to our homes?! I personally know some people who have no shame in telling others how they "avoided" paying back the loans they took. These people should be banned from purchasing assets (house, car) in the future. Their driver's license should be frozen. Their children should be banned from entering Standard 1. Until they started their first repayment instalments.

Hmmph..!!

To those doctors, engineers, architects etc. who are currently based overseas, may you one day realize what a big favour the government did by sending you abroad. And may you have the conscience to realize the need for you to return to the place you call home.

To those people who have benefited from the National Higher Education Loan, be grateful that the government loaned you money for YOUR tertiary education at a time when your parents could NOT afford it. Maybe it's high time you give other students THAT chance too.

Amen.

How often do you hear those "Why don't you get a job like so-and-so? She does not need to do much but brings home a lot of money!" or "Why don't you apply for this job? You can visit a lot of countries." or "Why don't you go work at the oil rig? So-and-so's take home salary is about RM 20K per month, you know?"..

How often then, do you hear people say "It doesn't matter whether they understand the tuition teacher or not, as long as I get paid at the end of the month." or "I'm going to plan my project in such a way that I will be able to go to [insert place here] because my boyfriend is there." or "I think I'm going to work on this species because it cannot be found here, it can ONLY be found [insert name of place far away]."

Question is, since when have we lost the passion in what we do, in favour of the luxuries we want? Since when did the final destination mattered more than the journey?

Why do parents nowadays advice their children to get a job based on the amount of money they can bring home? Aren't they supposed to encourage their children to embark on journeys that will make them wiser, more passionate, and journeys that will make them grow to become better people and useful citizen? Shouldn't parents nurture their children so that they will grow up to be independent when it comes to surviving the rat race? Aren't they aware of the saying, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him a lifetime."?

It is the mentality that we must bring home a lot of money that is influencing fresh graduates these days when it comes to securing themselves a job. A lot of people think that since they have "invested" so much money and time and youth in getting themselves tertiary education, they are supposed to be "given" an easy job, with easy money so that they can live an easy life.

That is also why graduates these days are turning to sales, marketing and what-nots: to earn fast money. And that eventually leads to the fact the the country lacks specialists, because every Tom, Dick and Harry, who could end up as specialists in their respective fields, turned to sales and marketing as soon as they stepped out of the university!

Whatever happened to the notion that we must work hard in order to succeed?