Life As An Adult

It sounds irritating but I know that that's the best way to make me open my eyes at 4.40 in the morning. As soon as I hear the ring, I bolt up from bed and head to the toilet with half-opened eyes to brush my teeth and wash my face. As I'm aware that every minute is essential, I pretty much rush through those formalities way before dawn breaks.

 I try my level best to complete all the stretching exercises in an hour's time. Sometimes, if I wake up a little late, I'll have to cut down on a few exercises. After that, in 15 minutes time, I'll be in my father's car-after having a shower and packing my things-to leave for work. During that one hour ride, I'll get some much needed sleep.

The repeat of the Crappy Call on Fly FM at 7.00 a.m. is my wake up call in the car. Usually, I'm almost at my destination at that time. It's a relatively quiet place to be in. In a town filled with vice activities ranging from gangsterism to prostitution, my undecided fate paved it's path to lead me to a small part of town better known as Rawang Industrial Park.

I spend my morning smelling the aromatic broths in a Chinese restaurant or breathing the fresh morning air in a Mamak restaurant by the roadside. I usually have my breakfast at the Chinese restaurant as it is just a five minute walk from my workplace. On days that it is closed, I feast on Indian food in the Mamak restaurant and my father will have to pick me up and send me to work from the restaurant as it is quite far from my workplace.

With 2 hours of free time, I settle down with a story book after breakfast. I've finished Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer and The Dispeller of Worries by Law Siew Mei during the last one month. And this habit of mine actually strengthened my ties with unexpected people.

The people working in the restaurant started treating me very well when they knew that I was an avid reader and not some school drop-out working in the industrial area. The restaurant's owner started speaking to me in English-something you don't see very often in Chinese coffee shops. He told me his childhood stories of how he used to mix around with people of all races and vented his frustration on how times have changed.

At around 8.45, I make my way to my workplace. It's a workshop-to be more precise, a car servicing shop. I got the job through my father's friend who was related to the shop owner. The good thing about getting such jobs is that you don't have to go for interviews or even waste time waiting to be called for one. After my usual morning sweeping of the workshop, I get down to work.

I learnt many many things about cars during my time there. Before joining, I knew nothing much about cars, honestly. Now, I know things such as absorbers, manual and automatic gears, piston rings, engine blocks, cylinder heads, petrol pumps, car viper motor, radiator etc. And I even know how to change some of the parts.

Another plus point is that I have learnt how to use various tools effectively. I used to wonder how could mechanics determine the size of a ranch by just looking at the hole and not the number. Now, after just one month, I can pretty much determine the size of a bolt or nut by just looking at them. Well, it's no surprise how mechanics who have been working for years do it expert-style.

The people whom I worked with in the shop were really great. There was the shop owner, his brother and their cousin working there. The first two have certificates in their fields but the third one joined just like me about 8 years ago. I was lucky in the sense that they knew how to treat a beginner like me as they had experienced with their cousin. And their cousin turned out to be my best friend there.

Honestly, I couldn't have hoped for better working mates than them. They treated me like their own brother and they took care of me very well. They paid for my food almost every day and even bought me additional food and drinks for tea time on certain days. They were caring and thought me about fixing spare parts and how they work.

The working environment was fabulous as well. It was totally stress free and the radio was switched on the whole day. The people who lived around them were friendly as well. They made friends with me pretty fast and we all joked around with each other. Sometimes, they give us a treat as well.

The glare of the setting Sun marks the end of my working day. My father picks me up from his office. To be more accurate, I actually drive back home all the way from Rawang. It's a one hour ride but sometimes  it can take an extra 45 minutes due to traffic jam.

Driving back home after work is a very different experience. One good thing about my trips were that I only had to drive a little while in the town area before going into the highway. Sometimes, I get irritated while driving in the highway. I'll be driving at 110 km/h in the middle lane but then there will be some people taking their own sweet time at 80 km/h. As I still don't have a licence, my father warns me about overtaking at times.

When people hear of the job that I was doing, they give me that look which clearly says "why take up such a low-class job?". To be honest, I wanted to do such a job to see how difficult peoples' lives can be. I chose a path where I could experience how people with low incomes lived their lives. After seeing my boss owning a Honda Accord 2.0 and a Myvi, his brother a Myvi Extreme Sport and his cousin a Honda City and Iswara, I learnt that no matter what job you're in, success will be the result of your hard work.

Another reason I decided to join work in a workshop was to build my muscles. I always knew that many people who excelled in athletics came from difficult backgrounds and attributed their success to their difficult lifestyle. Every day when I return from work, I just stare proudly at the veins jutting out from my arms like protruding rivers. The feeling is insanely good!

More importantly, I needed a place to drown my sorrows. Emotionally, I was losing it all during the last few weeks before I started working. My happiness was flowing out of me. I needed a sanctuary to get back my happiness and realized that getting away from my usual life might just be the right antidote. I was right and I pretty much got back my smile after being treated to jokes and "dirty-talks" by my fellow workmates.

As I bade my final goodbye on Friday, I felt an air of nostalgia filling my heart, as ever so often when I leave someone I've known for some time. My ability to forge strong bonds with people in short periods of time helps me to learn a lot of things in life. I wasn't paid for all the work I did (I knew it before hand and it didn't bother me) but I know for sure that the experience was just too priceless.........

Cycling

While waiting for my right adductors to heal (they've been making excellent progress), I decided to take up another sport temporarily-cycling. The sports specialist whom I'm referred my injury to advised me that cycling would be a good option while waiting.

As my previous bicycle was stolen, I was determined to get another one. This time, I was planning to get a pretty good bicycle as I was planning to cycle long distances and for a long period of time. So, my search began.

I first went to a bicycle shop which is situated opposite Aeon shopping complex. I was pretty much taken by surprise at the price of the bicycles. That's when I realised that it has been years since I paid attention to the price of bicycles. My father said that the price was equivalent to the price of a motorcycle (which indirectly meant too expensive) and we walked out of the shop.

My father suggested that we go look for a bicycle in Pandamaran. We went right after exiting that shop. My hopes weren't that high on getting a good one as there wasn't any famous shops there. What I didn't know was that I was just in for a another surprise.

We found a small bicycle shop at one corner of Pandamaran. The small shop was overfilled with bicycles. There was only a small place to walk in the shop as the rest of it was just bicycles and more bicycles. Then, something special caught my eye.

It was just there, sitting peacefully, among the all the other normal/old bicycles. The first thing I saw were the thin tyres, which is exactly one of the characteristics that I wanted in my new bicycle. It had a very professional look (I mean sporty) and the colour was great.

I looked left and right of the bicycle and decided it was time I tried it out. The feeling was great although it was a second-hand bicycle. It should obviously be great as it was a mountain bike with an original price of RM2000. I really wanted it and my father kinda liked it too.

After some bargaining, we got the RM900 priced bicycle for RM800. My father said that it was a worthy buy. The bike was in pretty good condition and it had many interesting features. The outstanding ones would be it's super-light aluminium alloy body and magnesium-plated pedals.

And since that day, I've been scaling great heights. I started off with one hour journeys and now I can cycle 2 hours without stopping. And when you've good a good bicycle, a pair of averagely strong legs and a rush of adrenaline at the sight of challenges, you just can't stop yourself from exploring.

The farthest I've been so far is Taman Chi Liung which is nearby my school. On days that I feel like taking a relaxing ride, I visit my friends over there. Once, I managed to meet up with 2 other friends and we went for a short ride around Taman Chi Liung and Bayu Perdana. They were showing me the houses of our schoolmates that they knew. I think I've forgotten most of it.

It's just a matter of time for me to recover. I feel a tiger in a cage- waiting for the right moment to get out there and flex my muscles. I miss running so much that I've been dreaming about it, only to wake up disappointed at reality.

Feeling the wind hitting your face while cycling is a great feeling. But, there's just nothing like putting on a pair of Adidas shoes and sprinting away. I'll have to wait patiently to feel that exhilarating feeling again. Till then, I'll work as hard as possible to make my legs stronger through cycling........


P.S. This is my 100th blog post. Thanks a lot for following my blog and reading the blog posts for the past 2+ years. I'll try my best to continue the stream of blog posts. There's still a lot you can uncover about me. Continue reading if you want to find out...........

A Timely Reunion

I knew that I was going to miss my friends after my schooling life with them was over. However, I didn't really think it would be this bad. All the jokes, laughter and pranks was what I longed for during the holiday. And I knew I was reaching the limit.

I ditched a few get togethers with my friends due to some unsuspecting reasons. So, one day, after work (oh, about my work, I'll post it up on my blog in a few weeks time), I signed into Facebook and asked them about when we could meet again. Their overwhelming and enthusiastic response took me by surprise.

We planned to meet the next day in Botanic Cafe. Since morning, I was feeling very happy because I was going to meet my friends again after a long time. I was just smiling all the way, excitement building up in me.

At around 7.40, I was there in the cafe with my one of my friends. Then, one by one, my friends made their way to the cafe. There were nine of us there. Another six of them couldn't make it due to some personal reasons. However, we weren't going to let that reason to stop us from enjoying.

The atmosphere was absolutely perfect for a reunion. The place was poorly lighted, the weather was great and the atmosphere was filled with music played by a band. It was just the weather where you could sit with a bunch of friends and talk about your lives.

And that's exactly what we did. We updated each other on what we were currently doing. Some were already enrolled in college (an option I've never thought about to fill my post-SPM holidays). So, we were asking them about the hot girls in their respective colleges. Totally boys stuff!

Some of them, including me, were working. We talked about our experiences, sharing bits and pieces about our lives. As usual, one of the topics was girls. We talked about the kind of girls that were at our workplaces. Then, we talked about the challenges we faced in our respective jobs.

One point that all of us (the working ones) agreed about was that once you started working, you'll feel very bored sitting at home during a holiday. I kind of felt the same thing too. Like on last Saturday morning, I was sitting down on the couch thinking of what to do. And I was totally clueless.

Talking about couch, some of my friends were pretty much couch potato-ing at home. They were just spending time at home watching television or doing other boring stuff like counting sheep. Honestly, I can't imagine life like that.

We had our dinner there that day. The food there is kinda expensive. So, for the next get together, we planned to have dinner elsewhere and then maybe meet up in the cafe. Some of my friends had beer and smoked shisha but I didn't feel tempted at all to try.

To add spice to our reunion, there was a football match going on between Arsenal and Blackburn. As we supported different teams, we got into our friendly argument, criticizing the players and their teams in the match. That's the typical football-watching environment right here in Malaysia.

At around 10.10, we decided that it was time we made our move. We paid for our food and were waiting beside the cafe for our parents. My parents arrived soon and I bade goodbye to them. That day, I drove home a satisfied man as that reunion brought back a spark of happiness into my life.......