The Perfect Man

The following missive arrived at my inbox one fine day.

As Kyle's life and career coach I actively encourage him to seek out new opportunities and nurture productive relationships with other people. One recent initiative he's taking is looking for a life partner. To facilitate his search, I've ... blah blah blah

PL, please advise when you've written the personal ad for him on your blog.

Best wishes,
Kyle’s life & career coach


The thing about my life is that I have really interesting (read whacky) friends. Never a dull moment, eh? Hehehehe … In this case, I have been tasked with a heavy responsibility to create a personal ad for this friend, Kyle. And for the sake of his future, I dare not fail. (I shall ignore the fact that I had joked and volunteered for this during one of our trekking trips.) I hope I still have two friends after this. No regrets Kyle & Kyle’s coach. Regrets are for sissies! :p

I ain’t no personal ad writer, so here goes nothing …


Kyle Seto
-------------------------------------

Canadian citizen, Chinese born,
Canadian accent but he ain’t no blond.

A rojak influence of East and West,
Dare I claim that he comes from the best?

A steady income, a noble profession,
In education, he shares his passion.

House keeping skills, that’s a probability,
Green card options, perhaps a possibility.

Not too young, not too old,
Just ngam ngam thirty five years old.

Not too tall, not that short,
No bag of bones, certainly not bald!

Cutesy in purple, snazzy in blue,
Watch out for the smile that he flashes you.


Cutesy in Purple ...


Snazzy in Blue ...

Is he what you are looking for?
If yes, then wait no more!

The queue is long, the time is short,
His fans are beating down his “fort”.

Clear your calendar, book his time,
Catch this social butterfly at his prime,

Quick! Drown him with photos, drop him a line,
Grab this perfect man for he is a real find!

------------- The End -------------

From the creative juices of Leanne’s shrinking muse

P.S. Hey Kyle, if this really works for you, I get finder's fee ok. You better make it a huge one! :P

For Money or for …

Career.
Happiness.
Job Satisfaction.
Security.
Etc., etc.
What do we work for?

These thoughts have been on my mind a lot lately. Not because I am in a dilemma (although it’s worth taking stock of our situation every now and then) but because the people within my circle of influence are.

My eldest sister for instance, finally handed in her resignation, after much prodding from us. It is not because she dislikes her work; it is because of the untenable company system she works within which she has tried to change but failed in the last few years. She has finally given up on hitting her head against the brick wall.

My younger sister on the other hand has an opportunity to move to a position that she has dreamed of for a long while but … she has to sacrifice quite a large sum of her current fringe benefits to attain what she wants. We shall await her final decision.

My cousin, who has just graduated and joined the rat race, has resigned after a month in a research company and returned to the world of academics as a lecturer. Many would have said that career wise; it’s not such a good move. But knowing my cousin, the job of a lecturer would probably be perfect for him. His musings on education can be found here in his blog.

Then, there’s this friend, who has recently given up on a cushy job and decided to work full time as a gym instructor.

And another friend who has refused to take up a high paying job with an investment company in KL because it would mean she has to uproot herself from her comfort zone in Penang.

One friend, despite her unhappiness, has not moved from her job because she wishes to complete her MBA first.

There are two Canadian friends who have forsaken better remuneration lecturing elsewhere for an experience to work in Malaysia.

And if I dig deep enough in my memory bank, there would be many more instances and examples.

What really motivate all of them? Obviously not merely money.

For me, remuneration would always be part of the total package but it is not THE top priority. After all, I have taken a tremendous pay cut to join a dotcom company once upon a time. Job satisfaction, social circle, company culture, company politics, and remuneration ~ all these play a part in the final decision.

My philosophy is simple. There is no perfect job (at least not within the realm of my experience) and there is no perfect company. When I am very unhappy and dissatisfied with the job and/or company, I’ll go through the following line of thought.

“Can I change the situation? If yes, I stay. If no, then … can I change my attitude/ perception and accept the situation as is? If yes, I stay. If no, I’ll leave.”

Some say the reality is not as simple as that. Sometimes we are stuck with responsibilities that make leaving the job more difficult. (This is in situations where we do not have a better option.) But again, the choice is ours. We could sacrifice on certain part of our lifestyle if we really cannot stand the situation. Or if we really want to continue with our lifestyle (that clearly shows where our priority lies), we have to adjust our thoughts and attitude and accept/ tolerate the situation.

So perhaps, it is really that simple after all.

From the mouth of babies!

Recently, a friend forwarded me an email on letters from kids to God. I found the following letter and thought that it was a gem of a letter from just a kid. Profound isn't it?

kid's letter to god, originally uploaded by Leanne's shots.

Another failed attempt

Why am I blogging at 6 in the morning? Good question! It’s because this is the second failed attempt to go biking and I can’t go back to sleep.

Sometime back, a few of the siau gang considered going on a cross country road bike (as in bicycle) tour later in the year. Needless to say, I was tempted.

Nevermind that I didn’t own a bike.

Nevermind that I might not have enough leave to go on a cross country road tour.

Nevermind that I am not an RPM fan in the gym and that those who are planning to go are either RPM instructors or RPM hardcore riders.
(Note: To the uninitiated, RPM is a cardio class offered in the gym where one spends 45 minutes on a stationary bike simulating hill rides and races.)

“After all, what the mind can conceive, the body can achieve.” Yeah! Yeah! Will have to relook at this quote later. :P

Just a couple of weeks back, the siau gang decided that the first trial would be to cycle to Port Dickson and back. Now, that is over 100kms one way. I was sceptical. First attempt for a non RPM goer and a non biker. That’s like committing physical suicide! :p It’s a little over the top even for me. So, we decided to go on a short trial ride to Bukit Jalil and back. I am told that it’s about 20kms but I stand corrected.

And thus, a couple of weeks back, I went to a bike shop to borrow a bike to go riding with these siau friends of mine the next day. The guy at the shop took one look at me and said that he did not have a bike my size on loan. Ehhh … to the unitiated, a bike my size would mean a smaller frame. After all, not everyone is born to be more than 5.5 footers!

What to do? No bike and I desperately wanted to try biking again. My first attempt was in 2002 and I have been considering this sport ever since. However, I resisted as I did not want another “white elephant” in my “closet”.

I digress. In any case, I made a rash decision and bought a spunky new bike! I blew RM1,300 on it and another RM470 on accessories. Yup! Rash decision it was. But look at my spunky new bike. He’s a darling, ain’t he? :D


My new baby!

Peik Lean Y.

I am now fully equipped to go biking!

Unfortunately, the next morning dawned cloudy and rainy. And it rained and rained and rained. Thus the trip was cancelled. The next few attempts were not as disappointing as I did not have to get up as early as 5.30 am to have it cancelled again.

But today … well, another failed attempt! :( The only male member in today’s riding trip is down with a sore throat and had to opt out. After hearing all the scary stories about women biking on their own, we decided to call it off again until we get more male muscle to join the trip. Sigh! At this rate, I fear my bike is gonna be another white elephant.

Oh well, what the mind can conceive, the body can achieve. I just have to keep bugging my siau friends to fulfil this part of the bargain. Hahahaha …

Dang! And it’s such a beautiful looking morning too!

When ignorance is not bliss!!!

Warning: This post is neither politically correct nor diplomatically written. It may be offensive to some and vulgar to others. Therefore, read at your own peril. If you can’t take it, ditch it!

Safe sex and preventive measures ~ who is responsible? Do we even know what that entails?

Recently, a friend broached the subject and I was a little shock at her ignorance and blind trust. She left it entirely to her boyfriend to take care of the matter. (As the relationship has only recently developed and he is rather the dark horse, there was some cause for concern.) He told her that she would be safe as long as he ejaculates outside her womb. As she was told the same thing by another friend, she felt safe. I was appalled.

In this time and age, pregnancy is only one concern; the other concern is the number of diseases a person can contract if her lover had indiscriminate sex prior to that. Thus, it is important to at least try to find out where his “dipstick” had … well, dipped. Otherwise, check if he had a recent health check and been pronounced “clean” by the doc. Ultimately, if all else fails and one must still get on with it, then using a prophylactic would likely be the safest.

Ejaculation outside the womb at the end does not mean that leakage would not happen while in the process. And to paraphrase the following line “a single drop of water and the desert blooms”, well we could literally say “a sheer drop of semen and your womb blooms!” Dramatic as that might sound, it is always better to be safe than sorry. There is a Cantonese saying that is very appropriate, “mmm pah yat maan, hai pah maan yat!” Translated, it means “fear not of the 10,000 consequences but be fearful of that ONE out of the 10,000 consequences!”

Being a woman is no excuse to be ignorant about sex and its consequences. It is no excuse for women to leave the preventive measures solely to men. Because ultimately, the person who stands to lose the most is the woman.

Sex education … It’s no more a matter of should we or should we not. It’s a matter of when. It’s appalling how ignorant we are and that is not limited to teens. Being pious and religious is no excuse to be ignorant. Being part of the decision makers on education and censorship policies is no excuse to bury our heads in the sand like an ostrich. We could no longer pretend that if we do not talk about sex, write about sex, watch sexual acts and teach about sex, we would not have sex! Just like if we do not teach the young preventive measures, they would not have sex! Ridiculous as that may sound, that’s precisely what the actions taken by certain powers that be are propagating.

But the power is in our hands; especially when it concerns our ultimate well-being. Do not leave it to others to dictate our own safety because ultimately, ignorance is NOT bliss!