It never rains...

... but it certainly storms cats and dogs and the odd whale here in Malaysia. 

I was in Sydney when they told me that the visa fell through, and there were no openings in the other global offices. (I still have to fight the urge to say "our" even though I've been looking at other companies for some time. Perhaps the first company is like a first love; they make such deep impressions that you can never really forget about them?) 

Anyway, I spent the whole of August spamming companies in Sydney with my resume, begging for a job. I'd like to think that they put me in the reject pile immediately because of my address and not because of a lack of skills. In any case, it was a humbling, enery-sapping experience. It wasn't long before I set my sights on Singapore, thinking that my chances of finding a job there would be higher, but still no luck. WhenI got desparate enough, I resigned myself to working at home in the land of long working hours and low pay. 

The first interview I went to was with a small boutique consulting firm. They offered me a job the same day but for a salary more than six times lower than my previous drawn pay. It is an indication of how desparate I was at the time that I even considered the offer. Only my parents' outrage at what they considered the firm's exploitation of their daughter made me turn it down. 

After that interview, I didn't hear back from anyone for about two weeks and I was getting very anxious, wondering if I'd made a mistake to turn my first offer down. What if it was my only offer? 

But then, as these things go, a friend introduced me to a friend who introduced me to Chen Chow, the most awesomely connected person I know. He passed my resume on to his friends and before I knew it, I'm getting calls from everywhere. I've since learned that if you go through the normal application process here in Malaysia, your resume will end up in some HR pile somewhere and your chances of getting someone that matters looking at your resume is slim to none. But if you pass it on to someone that matters, particularly someone who would like you working for them, then you get a call the next day. And it's THE SAME RESUME. So it's as much about WHO you know as WHAT you know. So much for meritocracy :(

That said, it's only an interview or four, and there are no guarantees that I will win my battle with my nerves and I might just flunk the case miserably anyway. But there's still a glimmer of hope. And the calls and my rapidly-filling callendar are definitely ego boosters. Thanks, Chen Chow, for all your help and support :) 

Now the challenge is to see 

• Whether I can convert these interviews into offers
  
• How long these companies are willing to wait for me to make my decision and, more importantly, 
• What I will do if the companies aren't willing to wait and I'm still chasing the whale. 

Thoughts?

Woe is me

I wander around the house aimlessly, eyes drifting vacantly as I search for something to occupy myself. Soon my hands start to shake. At these moments, I pet my dog, who is convinced that there is something hiding underneath the fridge. I switch the tv on, flick from channel to channel, and switch it off again. Then I start to wander again, inevitably ending up at the fridge, where I reach for yet another piece of chocolate or cake or pie.

Ok so I might be exaggerating but I am seriously starting to lose my mind. My access to the world has been cut off. My lifeline, my entertainment, my connection with friends and loved ones.

Need I spell it out?

MY INTERNET IS DOWN

Woe is me and beware the hapless technician who will come to tell me that they need another two business days to fix the problem. I know it's wrong to shoot the messenger, but I am beyond morals now.

Never get between a net addict and her internet, or else I will trample you like a hippo will someone who comes between it and water. You have been WARNED...

Bar joke... or is it?

You know those lame bar jokes with animals in them? Like this one:

A centaur walks into a bar and sits next to an attractive woman.
"You look a lot different than most of the men who come here," said the woman to the centaur.
"I guess you could say that," the centaur replied. "I'm half-man, half-horse."
"Well, I wish my husband were more like you," said the woman. "He's a total jackass."

Well if you're a Tyneside local named Peggy, you might get the last laugh. Turns out Peggy, a 12-year-old horse, has been enjoying the occasional pint and packet of crisps along with her owner at the local pub. Until the landlady kicked her out, that is. Her reason? The horse might ruin her new carpets, although she's a lot cleaner than some of her other regulars! Poor Peggy can only watch through the window now.

Labels

Fat Thin Anorexic Obese Ugly Pretty Cute Sweet Bitch Jerk Smart Dumb Idiot Mensa

Heartbreaker Casanova Joelizer

Disabled Special needs Wheelchair bound

Slut Stud

Migrant Bumi 

Chinese Malay Indian Black White Brown Yellow Nigger Chink Paki RACIST Young Old Senior citizen Wet behind the ears AGEIST Male Female Trannie SEXIST 

Unemployed male DEAD BEAT DAD Unemployed female HOMEMAKER

I'm tired of labels. Open your eyes and look beyond the stereotypes.

Illicit sex? Yes, please!

Zul Hassan, Perak Tengah district councillor, has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Or the honey jar, as the case may be. Looks like some guy tried to blackmail Zul, who's facing a corruption charge, saying that he has pics of him having sex with a Chinese national. But Zul wasn't standing for that, so he reported the guy to the ACA. And the best part? His defense was, and I quote:

What is important is that we did not ask for the women. He supplied them to us. If people sedekah (give), don't you want to accept the sedekah?

Fascinating logic, Zul. So is it then alright for the nice traffic cop to accept some money from the guy he pulled over just because the driver sedekah-ed it too? How about this scenario - if I sedekah-ed you some bull's penis or monkey brains, which are considered a delicacy in some parts of the world, would you have accepted that too?

The part I can't figure out is, if the Chinese national was a bribe, which was obviously accepted, isn't he as guilty as the other guy under corruption laws? Perhaps he's learning from his mistakes and turning over a new leaf? Hmmm....

In other news, can you believe that Sanlu, that Chinese milk company knew about the tainted milk since December of last year and didn't do anything about it?? The people responsible should be slapped behind bars and made to drink nothing but their milk formula for the rest of their lives.