Archive for the ‘Family’ Category

NB// Say what you want, but I think Kanye makes good music. At least, when he’s not “trolling” people during the VMAs.

So yeah – first off, new layout! YM’s been too dark too long, and it’s nice to see more hints of #ffffff, to be honest. Again, it’s a premade; but I’ve modded it to use my own (unofficial) “logo” rather than just plain ol’ typography, and changed the shades of colors in the text. I’m glad you like it, Jackie; I sketched the stick-figure (yes, she IS a stick figure) myself! I officially declare the pen tool as my bestie

To be frank, I’ve sorta given up on being able to reteach myself how to code a WP theme from scratch – properly – just because of the niggle that is my life. However, having discovered that there’s this pretty new malarkey called “Child Themes”, I think I just might give it a go…but not till I consolidate what’s been happening with my life so far, first!

Indeed, it’s surprising how much has happened with my life, in the span of just under two months (be warned, the next part of my blog post is long – making up for the drought, methinks? xD): Read the rest of this entry »

Thankfully, I managed to fly back to school about a week after my last post, which mean being back to the grindstone pretty quickly. In the month that I’ve been away from this weblog, I’ve been slogging it out for my A-level exams, which were spread out over the whole of May (with some practical modules taking place in April.) They aren’t finished – I’m on a week break, and have 3 more after this break is over.

But that’s not why I’m posting.

I just learned yesterday that my dad – manager of a medium-to-large call center since its set-up 2.5 years ago, stellar employee who rarely used his paid leave, and earned highest respects from all the agents (even more respect than the CEO commanded – dad was second in command) – was abruptly let go from his position on Wednesday. The powers-that-be from Down Under gave him the news and told him to clear out that same day – apart from him, there were no other “casualties”. And it wasn’t like the company was struggling; if they were, they never let on.

My folks had wanted to wait till the end of the week to tell me over the phone, as I was busy doing papers all that week…but they were afraid that I would find out anyway over Facebook, as plenty of his upset (and mortified) staff had left messages on his Wall. Thank heavens I didn’t see those, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to do my exams, no?

The good news is that plenty of support has poured in from him – my mum’s bosses (also my parents’ old college mates) have offered him some work while he gets back on his feet. It’s not exactly the same thing he’s been doing, and they can only offer him half of his past salary – but it’ll keep him busy, keep his skills polished; plus, he can work from home. Mum and Jerry have been coping excellently; they were still joking and laughing over the phone yesterday. To quote mum: “now he can tidy up the house – and finally exercise to bust his belly!”

The bad news is that it’s eating me up inside. I feel wretched and guilty for being in a pricey school all the way in England; even though I’m on scholarship and that his severance will at least see me through till the end of this school year. I still have a year of A-levels after, though; which means that a) I may not be able to complete them in this same school or b) will not be able to have my family over when my graduation ceremony rolls round. They’ve never visited my school since the time mum sent me off here on Sept 2007 – it’s too pricey.

The irony is that this job was the reason I could attend school in England in the first place. Dad started there the same time I started school here. That workplace was also where I did my work experience last summer, so I’ve had some fond memories of the people there…I’d never thought it would go this sour.

The same staff  who have sent dad wishes have, however, also sent me messages telling me how things have been since (and it’s not been pretty at the workplace), how wonderful a boss my dad had been to them, and that we were both lucky to have each other as father and daughter. One of them told that dad always spoke of us kids and mum “with a proud smile on his face.” Another said that she was proud to have had the chance to see me through my work experience – “your dad thinks the world of you, and it’s very much justified. You made an excellent employee, even though you were just 16 and only worked here for 2 months.”

Oh yes, the same multitude of staff my dad kindly and lovingly nurtured were the ones who nurtured me through my work experience – sort of a cycle, if you will. I knew a lot of them personally. A team leader told him on Facebook about how she was so down and thinking about giving up on a task she had promised she would complete for him by the end of that week; but he told her to hang in there – “think of your baby, complete the task for your agents; they need it to get their commission.” Even after being canned, he was still there keeping her sane!

Perhaps the powers-that-be had a very bad lapse in judgment – let got the outstanding, productive manager because he’s “too expensive”, and pile his duties on to the “cheaper” employees? Nicely done. The “cheaper” employees – employee, rather – who was forced to take on his duties since then is now feeling immensely pressured. Ironically, this same guy was dad’s right-hand man, and I feel very sorry for him – he was yet another guy I know personally who trained me during my early days.

Perhaps the CEO got a tad too jealous – not that my dad rubbed anything in her face; but when it came to birthdays, he was the one getting attention from the staff: pranks (read: a wrapped-up office), a multitude of treats – and even one year, a “World’s Best Boss” award. She didn’t even get that sort of camaraderie in everyday life, so that could’ve fueled it.

Whatever it is, it was cruelty in the first degree. For the first time in my life, I’m truly a wreck and it’s going to take me a fair amount of time to recover.

NB// I’ve installed FD’s Footnotes – useful, since I don’t like missing background detail; but writing a sentence and realizing that it’s a bit too long can be a bit tedious to read. Anyway, on with the post!

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Say what you will, but perhaps pathetic fallacy isn’t just indicated by nature – a la the great tree mentioned in Jane Eyre that was struck by lightning before Jane’s wedding to Mr Rochester (who, it turns out, had a wife beforehand!) Rather, I’d like to think that even technology has a way of foreseeing things to come; and no, I’m not referring to weather forecasting technology or diagnostic tools in medicine.

On Monday evening, right after “seeing” off  le boyfriend via IM (I’m back in Malaysia for Easter, he was heading off to a family ski trip in the French Alps), iTunes starts ‘spinning’ “Big Yellow Taxi” (the Counting Crows version; even though I grew up listening to Joni Mitchell’s.)

And no, I didn’t suspect something amiss. Not even when dad “chose” to arrive home the moment this line played:

“Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you got till it’s gone…?”

So my dad “saunters” in – I say saunter; it was actually more of a casual, less-energetic “clump” in. I did what any (sane + loving, teehee xD) daughter would do and gave him a hug – before proceeding to chat about his day. The usual, you know; crazy-happy staff, bit of an insane workload (performance targets, anyone?) and then some.

Before I know it, there’s a bit of a silent moment – after which, dad asked if I remembered Uncle¹ P.

“Yeah, I do…why?”

Our family have known Uncle P and his family for yonks – well over 10 years if I may say so.  An American who married a friend of my mum’s female boss², they have two mixed-blood kids – K and S. We didn’t live close by; but we saw each other when my mum’s bosses organized get-togethers during the -many- festive seasons here in Malaysia – say Christmas, Chinese New Year, etc etc. They were generally good-natured people and we got on well; I even have some funny memories of him during the Christmas party games of years gone by. In fact, my family (bar me, I was in England at the time) last saw them during Chinese New Year, which was just last month.

I knew all that, yes; but all the information in the galaxy wouldn’t have prepared my for dad’s next words:

“He passed away yesterday.”

Read the rest of this entry »