Da Niu's Christmas / New Year Greetings

Season greetings from Da Niu

Would like to wish all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year ahead. Guess this is gonna be the shortest entry as compared to my previous entries. Hmmm....come to think of it, may be I shall do a review at the end of the year. (which is just a few days away anyway!) Flipping through my planner, many things have happended throughout the year. Some good, some bad. And yes, I am still sitting here waiting for the confirmation. Apparently the boss who's gonna tele-interview me is back to USA and according to Mr. K in KL, he's having poor line / reception back in where he stays. Texas!! Country side i supposed. All I can imagine is large meadow with bunch of cow boys and tonnes of oil rigs in Texas. Damn! Guess I just have to wait till he comes back next month then.

Ooopss! that hurts....

Da Niu’s Dilemma

When I read Kenny Sia’s “Kuching & Perth Dilemma” few weeks ago, I was having a nice laugh at the kind of shitty situation he’s in. Guess what, I’m in the same shitty situation now!

Da Niu enjoyed himself while reading kennysia.com

Joined my present company in year 2000 and I have been stuck here for the past 6 long years. Have always been thinking of moving along ever since 3 years back for many many reasons. I don't want to bore you with all that. Butt is getting very itchy and restless i supposed. Have subscribed to 2 local newspapers ever since. Chinese papers for general info / gossips and English papers specifically for jobs. Applied a few, attended a few interviews, depressed with the results/offers at the end of the day. I have been wondering all these while, why is the economy so bad when the beloved politicians in the West Malaysia is yelling growth in developments and appreciation of RM. Subscribed to 'Job Street' and even wrote a letter to them, complaining less opportunities here in the East Malaysia as compared to the West.

3 weeks ago, as I browsed through the newsletters from 'Job Street', a vacancy caught my eyes. “Regional Quality Manager”. Well! What the heck! Doesn’t cost me anything to apply anyway. With a click of the mouse button and my e-resume and application were sent to the advertiser in a split second. 2 hours later, a man by the name of Mr. K called up.

Note: Names have been changed for privacy purposes

Mr. K: Can I speak to Da Niu please?
Da Niu: This is him.
Mr. K: We received your application. (Geess..that’s fast for a response!!) and we are calling to see whether you would be interested to work in KL?
Da Niu: Huh? KL? Errrrrr……Nope!! (I answered lam-shi-ly)
Mr. K: Oh Ok! Thank you.

Put down the phone and quickly forgot about the phone call. 2 days later, Mr. K called again.

Mr. K: Da Niu please!
Da Niu: Yeap! What’s up?
Mr. K: This is Mr. K again. I was wondering whether you would be interested to work and base in "CHINA"?
Da Niu: CHINA?? Hell! Nope!
Mr. K: hmmmm……Oh Ok! Cheers!

Again! I put down the phone and minutes later, my current big boss, called me to his office and gave me one hell of a screw and a nice spicy, arse firing Cha kueh "TIAO"!! Geeess…I swear! My backside is still fuming when I dragged my sorry arse out from his office 2 hours later. Perhaps because of that and partially out of curiosity, I made a call to Mr. K.

Da Niu: Mr. K? Da Niu here! (Ahem! Polite way!) I was wondering whether the position is still vacant?
Mr. K: Yeah! Yeah!
Da Niu: Just between you and me, what is the chances of me securing the job huh?
Mr. K: With a glance at your resume, I would say you are the best candidate for the job among all other applicants. (Geess..I was blushing at the other end). Or else we wouldn’t have called you twice.
Da Niu: (Pretend to be dumb) Ohh! Like that ah! Just out of curiosity, what is the remunerations like huh? (I asked reluctantly! In actual fact I was only asking to test my current personal market value.)
Mr. K: Errrr…. In fact I am not suppose to tell you! (Ok! Ok! To all the readers out there, please don’t tell anyone about this conversation / blog ok? Especially not to tell my current and potential employers. Promise?) With your experience, I would say errrrr……somewhere around RMXXXXX.
Da Niu: (Speechless, Jaw dropped) Errrr….A month? (Shaky voice)
Mr. K: Yeap! (My freaking god!!! I have only thought about earning that figure when I retired or running my own business at the age of 60. This is like running my own business; minus off all the financial/business/sales headaches. And damn! I swear! This is 3 times at least, comparing to my current earning! Upgrading from a 4 digits earning to 5 is a huge leap for me. I’m bedazzled!)
Da Niu: (Act cool). Hmmm….in that case, anything else you would like me to forward to you. (voice still shaking).
Mr. K: Yeap, your full resume with your picture. (I still cannot understand this! Companies employ people based on their capability or physical appearance?)
Da Niu: OK! Right away. Thanks

Put down the phone, emailed my resume with my photos attached. Not hearing from Mr. K for another 2 weeks. Getting worried, I called Mr. K for updates and according to him, his boss has went to freaking Europe for Christmas holidays. Damn! That was only 11th December and still another freaking 2 weeks away from Christmas and his boss is already on leave. Geeeess! Guess I have to wait for the answer or perhaps information on my first interview after Christmas then. I supposed the passport size photograph of mine, must have scare the shit out of him and his director and i would stand no chance at all even for the first round of interview.

Yesterday, out of the blues, received a call from Mr. K and confirmed that his boss is gonna called me from USA for the tele-interview! Hmm.... I thought he said he went back to Europe. My gosh!!!! The boss himself will be calling me from the other side of the world just for an interview over the phone! Damn proud lah!! In fact he’s gonna call me this Friday.

At the same time, all kinds of thoughts shot to my mind. What if I really get the offer? Surely I’m gonna have bigger exposures / experience with better prospects not to mention the salary and trainings. Definitely a plus points to be added to my personal resume. Being a Regional Quality Manager, I would need to move to KL. Will be required to travel to 6 countries in this region frequently to overlook all quality issues and operations. But at the same time! What about my beloved dear dear wife? My baby (hatching soon)? My family? My cars? My house? My scouts? My rovers? My rover council? My friends? Lately my harmonica class for the rovers which supposedly gonna kick start in January? My personal lessons from the harmonica master? (have been trying to find a harmonica master over the last few years and failed. Found one last Saturday eventually) and the most important of all, my life here in KUCHING!! If I am still single, I wouldn't have think twice if offered! But now with all the commitments? Sigh! Ha! ha! perhaps you may say I think too much! Siaw ah? Have not even attend first interview already day dreaming liao! But to think of it! What if I really get the offer? I'm confused! All of a sudden!! Any advice?? Anyone??

Da Niu is seriously confused and downing in the pool of guilt.

I have been to many places and Kuching is still the best place to settle down and have family! At least that's what i feel. All this while I have insist to settle down here in Kuching even since I was 19 and was studying here in Kuching. Now that I have to leave all these, in pursuing my career. Not that i am gonna stay in KL for good! I recogn i would only be there for 5 to 10 years max. But that really SUCKS man!!!

Life sucks!!

Da Niu, the Harmonica playing begger

Harmonica - An instrument, also called the "mouth organ", which consists of reeds in a casing which channel the air blown into the instrument through channels and out holes on the side of the instrument. The harmonica was invented in 1821 and is used mostly in folk music

It has been a while since I last played the harmonica. In fact that was freaking 18 years ago. You see, back then I was just an ignorant 14 year old kid and dying to learn guitar. Guess the rock star in TV show must have got me and I always think that playing guitar and singing love song will always impress the girls. But then I hesitated to join any more music class due to my phobia and bad experience left by my first music tuitor.

I had a really bad experience earlier when I was only 8. My sis used to go to piano lessons back then and I was really annoyed (errr......amazed) by the way she plays piano at home. So the little boy thinks that playing piano is cool.

Yeah! Yeah! Little boy thinks piano playing is cool!!

I started asking my mom to send me together with my sis to the piano lesson. On the first day, I learned how to write stupid musical symbol. Damn! I don’t even know what it’s called. On the second lesson (each lesson lasted for 2 long hours) I learned to write this symbol thing AGAIN!!. On the 3rd lesson, there is a fierce looking old hag (errr...i think she's around late 30s, but to me back then, very old liao) giving me a book and asking me to play. Poor me. I barely know what the notes are. Anyway, it’s just a stupid ‘twinkle twinkle little star’ I was playing and I was scolded so badly and repeatedly that I memorized the keys and played the tune after many times being whacked by the ‘teacher’ on the same day. Finally she released me from her grips after she has done enough torture to my brain with a cheeky smile on her deformed face.

The old hag finally released me after she's having enough fun.

From that day onwards, I swear to GOD, Amen! That’s it. No more music lesson for me. Enough is enough. A boy’s gotta do what a boy’s gotta do.

Then again, when I was 14, there are music classes, teaching people how to play guitar and harmonica in church. (I’m still a fun loving Sunday school going boy back then ok?). Told my mom that I wanted to join the guitar class. Seeing my friends plucking guitar chords was too much to bear for a little boy like me. And yes, she enrolled me to the class happily, only to find out later that she has enrolled me to the freaking HARMONICA class. Damn!! Playing harmonica is really so not cool at all. The first impression that jetted to my mind was, Geee! If I don’t get a job later in life, I can still be a harmonica playing begger in the streets. (Oppss! Sorry to all harmonica fans! I swear, previously all street walkers in Sibu play harmonica). Sigh!

Da Niu happily playing his harmonica for a living.

Mom happily bought me a China made ‘Hero’ harmonica with silver cover which costed around 6 bucks back then and i have to drag my sorry arse to the first class.

I'm not surprised to find only 3 of us in the class when more than 60 people turned up for the guitar lesson next room. What an ironic sight. In fact I was thinking to myself, "see lah, see how long can this class stands"; while giving others a sheepish smile. 2 guys and a girl with the tuitor (Mr. Mao Wei De) Well, being an obedient boy back then, guess I would just have to stick with the class then. Mr. Mao started to lecture us some basic rules on the maintenance of a harmonica, played a tune with his harmonica and leaving all of our jaws dropped in amazement. Then he started with the very basic thing; playing from 1 (Do) to 1 (Do). Basically, playing harmonica is all about sucking (drawing would be a polite word to use) and blowing (mind you! All dirty minded cheeky bastards out there!). That was easy for me. I can do that. So I formed my lips into a small kissing shape of ‘O’, blew into hole no. 8 and Voila! I played my first ‘Do’. Then I drag my harmonica with the subsequent ‘draws’ and ‘blows’ and completed my Do to Do. No sweat! Oh boy! I was overjoyed with the achievement.

Now put the harmonica in your mouth and play 'Do'

Playing harmonica is never an easy task. Mr. Mao once said, "besides learning the playing tehniques, you still have to learn Qi Gong, as you got a lot of sucking and blowing to do". Wait a minute! I thought i was going for my music class, not the martial arts though!! Well! He succeeded in scaring the living daylight out of us.

You must perfect the art of Qi Gong before you start playing Harmonica

In fact, being one of the 3 pupils who graduated (Serious! I have a cert to prove), definitely I left my guitar learning friends in green pools of envies and jealousies as I am among the only fews who can play harmonica.

From there onwards I started to feel the fun and joy of learning an playing harmonica especially after a new song was learned. As the harmonica is relatively convenient to play. Basically you just stick it into your mouth and "breath" regularly. Ha, ha, ha...sounds like the routine briefings by the air stewardess on the breathing apparatus right? Back then, i would practise my harmonica every once in a while. Open my music note and trying to perfect the art. Music note for harmonica (numerical) is rather much easier to understand and learn as compared to those written in "tau geh". Just hope that i didn't scare or perhaps annoy my neighbours with my midnight harmonica recitals when i was having insomnia.

Here it goes again! The neighbouring "siaw lang" is practising his wolf howling, freaking harmonica again!!

Later on I corrected my perception on beggars playing harmonica and amazed seeing people playing Mozart with harmonica. Chromatic harmonica to be specific. Well, I’m not into blues and jazz with harmonica. Sorry folks! That kinda music make any sense to me. What I would enjoy best is still playing all the folk songs and the Ah Mah’s Chinese love songs from the 60s or perhaps 70s.

Throughout my life, I have collected many different harmonicas. Mainly from China. I used to have an octave harmonica from Hohner where you have higher pitch on the upper holes (reeds) and lower pitch at the lower holes (reeds). Dad got me that as a sourvenir when he went to Taiwan. Since it’s gold in colour and with a curved structure, I would happily refer it as the banana harmonica. Lost it somehow when we moved around after i finished my form 5. When i tried to search for it again in the open market, geeeees...60USD. My holy MF goodness!! Only then i realised harmonicas from Hohner is freakingly Expensive!!

My first "banana" harmonica!!

It’s kinda hard to get different variety of harmonica, especially when you’re living on Borneo island. Therefore, it never stops amazed me when I bumped into some really long harmonica in a musical instrument store behind kotaraya when I studied in KL. Well, couldn’t afford it back then. Buying one would mean spending 2 to 3 months of my allowance. Only after so many years, i realised there are so many variety harmonicas. For instance, Chromatic harmonica, Diatonic harmonica, 10 holes (blues) harmonica (obviously for the blues and cowboys), tremelo harmonica, octave tuned harmonica, bass harmonica, chord harmonica and cutest of all, a 4 holes (key chain) type harmonica. Bought myself a VCD on harmonica playing by Mr. Chong Ah Kow (the President of Malaysian harmonica society). Oh boy! You should really see how that Ah Pek plays. Simply just stuck the his cute little 4 holes harmonica into his mouth and played wonders. Needless to say, I am bedazzled again! This Ah Pek is doing wonders with his harmonica in fact he's the Champion of the 2nd world harmonica competition in Germany 1989 and he has been organizing many classes, talks and even many international harmonica competitions here in Malaysia. In fact, he is doing so good that he even recorded his own CDs / VCDs and even own a harmonica shop (Harmonica World Sdn. Bhd.). Malaysia BOLEH!! ... Gees! Don't even know when i would get a chance to record my own CD.

Mr. Chong Ah Kow posted in 2nd Asia Pacific Harmonica Fest in Taipei.

Come to think of it, playing harmonica is pretty simple though. But to master it, its gonna take some time. I won't say it's difficult though. Normal beginners would learn to play a single tune on a single harmonica. Novice like me, have learned to play 2 tunes concurrently (using tongue). Pretty basic though! But grandmasters / experts like Mr. Chong Ah Kow (KL Ah Pek) and Mr. Zhen Xian Wen (Kuching Ah Pek) can play 3 to 4 tunes all together concurrently with his single harmonica. Geess... These Ah Peks kick arses man!! Should feature them in "Majalah 3" if not "Ripley's Believe it or Not".

Special features this season.

Da Niu's Favourite Kolo Mee

Guess, this is my first post here. Personally, i was having a tough time deciding which platform to use for my blog. Friendster, Xanga and Blogspot. A quick personal review then. I have been using Friendster for my Kuching City Rover Council. Pretty much basic utility tools. Can't expect much when the service is provided free though. It's not that i would expect wonders from a blog anyway. Xanga - no offence! Provides a lot of platforms for editing as per personal preference and you can upload your mp3 and video clips, but equally time consuming when you tried to jump from one page to another. A nightmare for a lease patient guy like me. After much thoughts and persuasion from Alvin :) over Ice Kacang (in Kuching, we call it ABC or perhaps Ang Tau Jan Luk), guess i would just use 'Blogspot' then. Well, simply because it's kinda user friendly and suitable for a comp idiot like me without having to know much rocket-science computer jargons and terminologies.

Enough said of that. I was having Kolo mee last Sunday with my dear in this small little shop in Ang Cheng Ho Road (Opposite Jubilee Hall and KMC Swimming Pool). This is one of the best Kolo mee sellers in Kuching. Well at least that's what i feel. OK! OK! no one is paying me to say this and i don't get treats to enjoy free noodles from the tauke (boss). The shop's name is "Dawankung" (Big Bowl Grandpa).

Thumbs up for the grandpa of all big bowls!!

Normally, this shop is packed with families especially on weekends (perhaps lazy housewives taking a break and decide not to cook on weekends). I have to stand outside the shop waiting to be seated. Not that you would get a pretty waitress leading you to the table. Basically, you would have to stand next to the potential fast eaters, eyeing them gulp down their last mouthful of noodles, wipe their mouth with plenty of tissue papers, sip their last drop of Kopi-Peng and proceed to the counter for bills. Then you have to quickly plunge yourself to the vacanted table only waiting obediently for them to order your favourite kolo mee.

Hungry customers quickly grab the seats and plant their butts to the stools
Foods and drinks are normally served within minutes. I have to help myself with my favourite sweet and sour chillie paste, conveniently available in a small plastic container on every table.

Oiiiii! This is not kolo mee lah! Wipe your saliva off the monitor.

Ordered myself a Teh-Peng (Iced tea with milk) and my dear, a Teh-C-Peng (Iced tea with 'Ideal' milk). Then amuse ourselves, watching crowds streaming in and out of the shops. Tables are always full and not to mentioned a few unties giving their 'Smack-down eagle eyes' look at those who are still enjoying their bowl of kolo mee.

Can tell the difference between a Teh-peng and a Teh-C-Peng?
While waiting for my kolo mee to be served, I notice a small sticker with a big 'A'. It was given away by the municipal council to those food operators who score good grades in hospitality, good command of english, good listening and comprehension skills, good geographical and historical knowlegde, IQ and EQ above 200, tonnes of pretty, sexy, mini-skirt wearing hooters (waitresses), muscular chefs... bla, bla, bla. Ok! Ok! I lied about that part. Generally, stickers with grades are given to food operators based on the frequent evaluations on the overall hygeine and cleanliness. Guess no one would be stupid enough to glue their sticker at the front door when they score an 'F' then.

Dawankung scoring an 'A' for good command of English.
Finally, here comes our heavenly kolo mee. Basically, it's a nice bowl of noodle, covered with 'Cha Siew' (BBQ pork) and a sprinkle of onion leaves and crispy, aromatic fried garlics. The difference between kolo mee sold by Dawankung and others is that the mee, Ahem! noodle is boiled to perfection with the 'Q Q' taste and despite the soggy, well boiled noodle for perhaps...errrrr......senior citizens. The shop also serves saliva droolling kolo mee with chunks of chicken meat and also 'Yong Tauhu' (beancurds stuffed with meat/pork/fish).

Yeap! The bowl looks big enough! But certainly the noodle doesn't look plenty enough for me!! :(
Don't ever think that you can wave at the 'Small Two' (waiter) and asked them for bills after you have stormed through your foods. That system doesn't apply here, bro! The bussiness is just too good that you have to drag yourself to the counter to pay up. Of course you can have other alternative by just leaving the shop. No joke! Instead you are going to enjoy Free curry rice over the next few days, courtesies and compliements from the Polis Diraja Malaysia (Royal Malaysian Police Force).