The Pondering Introvert©
Grüezi. 안녕하세요. The day I began to live is the day I discovered being an introvert was awesome - Maxime Lagacé
Monday, January 15, 2024
How I lost weight and fats
Friday, January 5, 2024
Part 3: Bangkok Trip
Happy New Year 2024! It has been such a rollercoaster ride in 2023, with many big decisions, big changes and challenges made in 2023. Phew, what a change. What's interesting is that the monks I went to in the past said there will be a major change each time our age has the digit 9 in the second digit. How interesting! Indeed, it has for me in 2023. The older you get, the less interested you are with celebration, which includes New Year. It's just another day, another night.
Since Bangkok is named the most visited city in 2023, I visited as a very supportive neighbor. It was a good trip catching up with really old friends and a new friend. Vibrant, lively city as what I have known Bangkok as and it never disappoints. Perhaps, next time I should consider going with someone who has the same mentality as I am then it's way easier. Everyone is different, but to make things easier, let's stick to the people I am familiar with or people that travels the same way as I do. That's the takeaway.
Monday, December 18, 2023
Part 2: Bangkok Trip
Since I am on school break right now, here comes Part 2 from last year's trip.
Friday, November 17, 2023
Part 1: Bangkok Trip
When Covid hit, I didn't think that it was going to be this long. And, certain things were permanent. My last leisure trip was back in 2019 to Seattle. My last trip overseas was to The Philippines in early 2020 for a business trip. I was lucky I got to go on that trip because all travels were halted when I was there. Any trips that have yet to happen were canceled with immediate effect. Imagine the emptiness my passport is right now. No stamps, nothing, and it has gone to waste to renew for 5 years.
There were people I met online in 2022 and decided, hey, let's go to Bangkok. I haven't been to Bangkok since 2014. Man, that's been 8 years. I am talking in the 2022 year.
Monday, October 30, 2023
Another goodbye
My last update on my job was 2 years ago when I left IKEA after a huge project I worked on which also happened to be my first legit and formal project I took on. From then on, I went to an e-commerce platform. If you're in Asia, you gotta work there to say you have worked in a large e-commerce company.
My mind wasn't at the best state when I attended the interview. But, I gotta do what I was hired for. I was lucky I got hired. haha. After 6-7 years of being around, it's still a start up culture. In comparison of PayPal, IKEA looks like a manual-labored company. I'm not going into the nitty-gritty stuff due to compliance and confidentiality (based on my own integrity, no NDA or anything like that). But, it came as even more of a surprise when I started working here.
Putting complaints of manual labor aside, you learn the most when being put in an environment like that. You don't maximize your learning from a well-established infrastructure because the AI helps you complete your job quicker, faster and more efficient.
I continue taking on the project management role, swaying further and further away from Compliance. Well, in project management, specifically in the Fraud/Compliance function haha. I left after 1 year and 8 months. I have heard people leaving within 3 months and I get it.
Anyone young, who has the drive and energy to put up with the effort and hours, go for it. Just don't expect things to be easy and chill. When it comes to learning curve, dang, there's a lot to learn even for someone like me (meaning not fresh grad). If you get a good lead, learn the most you can. They are the ones that make the difference and they make tough jobs more bearable.
Thursday, October 26, 2023
Day 4: Langkawi
After a year of pause, here I am back with my mannerism. And, to finish up my Langkawi postings, of course. Haha.
Saturday, October 14, 2023
Update: Moved
I've been missing for awhile now, slightly more than a year due to, well, life.
When I visited a monk when I was in my early 20s, I was told that there will be a major change or event in our lives when the second digit of our age turns 9. So, it's 9, 19, 29, 39, 49....99. Only if you manage to reach 99 (I do not want to either). Please don't make me live such a long life.
So, the year I turned 39, in fact, it was just last month, yay, Happy Birthday to myself. There has been a huge shift in my life this year. First, I packed my bags, then I moved country. Second, I resigned, and went back into studying.
Until I did my highest education prior to this (degree for me), I was neither a good student nor a good learner. I'm not sure if it's partly due to the fact I wasn't working and lack experience before I can be grateful that studying is way easier than work. Or perhaps, the education system did not fit my way of learning. My memorizing skill is bad, I just did not know just how to memorize for an exam. To get to a passing grade, I can already be content. That was how bad it was.
Anyway, I passed my degree in Bachelor of Arts, I still had my Honors, phew. Haha. I went to work in the field of my studies and quit 2.5 years later and went into something unrelated. The reason why I worked in a hotel was really just to build my foundation in my mental state, personality and character as I was still discovering the world and myself.
Right now, I know who I am, I know my likes and dislikes, I know exactly what I want now. Therefore, studying right now might be a good idea too.
That's a short little update about myself.
Friday, September 9, 2022
Day 3: Langkawi
Friday, June 17, 2022
The supernatural force
Has anyone encountered a supernatural existence? We have read and heard stories and tales from our family, friends, teachers and what not. But, have you?
I came from a non-believer family of this power and growing up, until today, I'm not exactly certain if the encounters I had were purely imagination, a dream, or something really happened. Nobody told me about ghosts, spirits etc and my late grandparents were still around at that time. I was afraid of many things, one included a burglar breaking into houses, and it left me terrified and ended up dreaming about it for nights. Okay this is not supernatural, but an example of how I get scared and I would hide under my comforter and stop breathing. Thinking about it makes me wonder what was I thinking at that age.
Fast forward, became an adult voila, I shouldn't be afraid of anything I cannot see with my naked eyes right? Wrong. I was even more afraid haha. I heard many stories happened in Genting Highland, abandoned places, hotels etc and guess what, I went into the hospitality industry. Well done to myself haha.
Working in a hotel means we gotta work on shift which includes a graveyard shift. When it's quiet and eerie, your imagination runs a million times worse than it already was. I was working at a Front Desk at that time, and it was 4am, I wanted to go to the toilet. What do I do? I can't wait until 7am. I had 2 options, to go through the quiet staff locker which is cold and quiet, OR, I go to the guest toilet 1 minute away. I opted for the guest toilet and I ran for my life.
Before I started working there, I was on the fence whether there is or not. After I joined the hotel, there was even a team of people with gifted abilities to see all these spirits. I heard so many stories, and them telling me what they could see at that point of time. It was haunted at that time. The hotel was the top hotel in KL that time, and our business was rather bad and many unfortunate events had happened, one after another including a not-so-young housekeeper was possessed and needed 5 big-sized security guards to hold on to her. There's no logic in all of these, yet it happens. Another was, my co-worker heard a boy crying in the locker, and when she went to check it out, there was nobody.
There was someone committed suicide in the hotel room just before I joined. Guess what? Each time for that 2.5 years I worked there after 9pm, the elevator was definitely gonna stop on a certain level, whether there are guests in front or not. This has been years ago, but it doesn't mean that it's not there. I'm sure it's there, somewhere around us. I was told that my body is very yin from a legit medium. Therefore, I need to be very careful as I am an easy catch.
Since I left the hotel industry, do I still believe in it? Even more than ever. Have you heard of anyone being followed around? Do you have any friends that can see these things? Or some, they can even communicate to ask what do they really want? I have and when I hear these things, I still get goosebumps each time.
Thursday, June 9, 2022
Day 2: Langkawi
After spending the first night in the hotel, let's start going places. In the past when I went to Langkawi, it's always getting drunk. Now that I am much older, I don't fancy those things anymore. Talking about getting older huh. haha.
After making our stomachs happy and full of energy, we headed over to Langkawi Sky Bridge. It was close when I wanted to take the cable car years ago. But, here I am now. Before going up, a note to take, it's all outdoor parking but there are a few types. The Premium parking is obviously more expensive, which is RM10 I believe? I went to the next one, which is RM5. The difference? It's just slightly nearer to the station. If you have the capability to walk, why not?