I Don't Want My Kids To Suffer And Work Hard!

I've often heard loads of people saying that they're working hard now so their kids won't have to work hard and go through what they're going through. They want their kids to have an easy future, not to struggle like them. I see no wrong in that. In fact, I'm doing more or less the exact thing too but I don't entirely want them to have it all easy in the future. I don't entirely want them to have loads of money without having to work and earn it for themselves.

Now, you're probably thinking just what kind of horrid parent I am. Well, maybe you're right. But seriously, aren't kids already having life too easy these days by having all their whims provided for them without having to earn it? A child wants an iPad, they get it. A child wants a cell phone, they get it. A child wants a car, they get it. And all this without having to work and earn the stuff they get. How do you expect them to be self sustainable in the future?

Now, I see this trend as something totally wrong with parents these days. Yes, you love your kids, you want them to have everything. You want the best for them but you're forgetting that you're really not preparing them to face life in the future on their own. You're not going to be around forever to give them what they want. The savings you leave them will not last if they don't appreciate how hard it was for you to earn it for them.

I work hard, sometimes too hard to make sure the family has all their needs fulfilled and to make sure the future is secured. But I don't want the boys thinking that they don't have to work hard when they grow up. I don't want them taking things for granted and not appreciating the things they have. Yes, I could leave them loads of money (which in true fact would be a total of RM10.00 ... hahaha!) but how long would that last if they don't know how to manage it or appreciate how difficult it was for me to get it for them?

Working hard and having to earn every single thing that you have builds character. It builds respect and appreciation for the people and things you have. I see lots of kids these days who have no respect or appreciation for anything with attitudes bordering on arrogance even.

Take my own kids, they're the classic example of children who don't appreciate anything. All the stuff we buy them are destroyed within a matter of months or less. We got them MP3 players and within a month, it got busted and they want a new one. We gave them 3 or was it 4 cell phones and all of it doesn't work anymore. And all they can say is, I need a new cell phone, MP3, player, iPad, etc, etc, etc ...

Well, the wife and me have decided that they're not getting things easy anymore. Yes, we'll provide for them and take care of them and make sure they finish school and all that. But they have to earn everything they want from now on. They have to know things don't just appear magically from nowhere just because they want it. They want an iPad or a new cell phone? Well, they just have to save up for it or maybe volunteer to do chores in the house to earn some extra cash.

It might sound cruel and they'll probably complain that their friends parents got them this iPad, tablet, cell phone or whatever but they'll just have to work for it if they want one. Period! That way, maybe, just maybe they'll start to appreciate things and build character and turn out to be responsible and better adults in the future, god knows we're lacking in that right now!

But seriously folks, you can't blame the kids for this one. This is entirely your fault. By wanting to give them everything and making sure they don't have to work as hard as you have, you're indirectly shielding them from the harsh realities of life and maybe even failure. Remember, you're not going to be around forever and if they're so dependent on you, think how they'll manage without you around to give them all they want.

I've interviewed a lot of work prospects for my office and seriously, almost all of them had to call mommy to ask if the terms I offered were good or not! Seriously, I'm not kidding. I suppose, the terms I offered them required them to work hard and observe late hours and not one of a cushy CEO's position, which is what most kids these days think they're worth. In fact, I think all those kids in college when they graduate expect or even demand a high paying and cushy job just cos they have some paper qualifications from seagull scientific.

I fear for the future generation.

And The Oscar Goes To ...

My ploy to act depressed and pitiful the whole of yesterday for having to wear the 'lamp shade' to stop me from biting my now healing wound has worked. Mommy and that idiot went out yesterday and bought me this cute and groovy looking pants to put on me and cover my 'wounded' area so I won't have to use that stupid and pathetic looking 'lamp shade' anymore!

They were so taken in by my plight of looking depressed that they rushed out early Sunday morning to go find me a nice little pants from the pet shop at Ikano Power Centre. Damn, I'm such a great little actor ... BOL! I should be nominated for an Oscar, heck, I should be given an Oscar!

They are such gullible little people, especially that idiot with mommy. He is so gullible that I could probably convince him to buy me the London Bridge  even ... BOL!

Well, at least the pants is so much better than that restrictive and awful looking 'lamp shade' thingy. I wonder who came up with that silly contraption. They should try using it themselves and see how it feels.

I wonder if I should audition for the part of Snowy in the next Tin Tin movie, I'm way cuter and definitely more adorable than that Snowy fellow :P

The Lamp Shade

I'm feeling a little sorry for Pebbles right now. We just took her to the vets and she's now sporting a nice little 'lamp shade' over her head. She's not at all used to it and is far from happy with having to have it around her cute little head that she practically doesn't want to move at all. She's just sitting there in one place so afraid to move.

As much as I hate to see her with that neck cone, I have no choice but to make sure she has it on for at least a week. A few days ago, she was gnawing at this little spot on her left side and kept on biting, scratching and licking it until it became a wound, which has now spread to two more spots.

She's done this before, biting and scratching at a certain spot and we had to take her to the vet once before but that wasn't as serious as this one. She kept on biting it and licking it and it just wasn't getting a chance to heal naturally.

This morning after going through some webhosting sites for some info on websites, the wife and me decided to take her to the vets and it's a good thing we did cos the diagnosis is, she's down with ring worms and because she was biting that open wound, it's spread to two more sections around the wound. The vet says the ring worm is nothing serious and she just needs some medication and stuff but cos she's licking and biting her present wound, it'll just spread further which is why she's got her own personal 'lamp shade' attached to her.

She's not too happy about it and she'll letting her displeasure show by giving the wife and me the eye ... LOL! She's really not used to it and when she's not used to anything, she won't budge much. I'm ending up carrying her around the house. I'm just going to leave her and she'll eventually have to move if she's hungry or thirsty or needs to use the toilet.

I don't know how she contracted the ring worms cos she's always inside the house. We hardly let her go outside for fear of her contracting stuff like this so it's really a big question mark on how she got this. One probably cause is she got it at the groomers or maybe from the back of the kitchen area, cos that's the only side where she likes to sneak out and stray cats hang out there.

Anyways, at least she's now on medication and we'll have to shave her totally clean once the wound dries up in a day or so to cater to the ring worm healing process, which should take about 3 weeks or so, according to the vet. I'm more concerned about getting her wounds healed cos then we can take out her 'lamp shade' which I'm sure is totally uncomfortable. But it's for her own good, I suppose.

Maybe in  a day or so she'll get used to it and will be back to her naught mischievous self instead of sitting here at my feet moping away. I'm definitely going to be feeding her by hand the next couple of days cos I need to spike her food with the anti-biotics tablets that she has to take. Hope she'll recover fast though.

The cost of her consultation and medication is not exactly cheap though. We took her to Healing Rooms, just a few minutes drive away from our place. Her regular vet in Puchong was still closed for the CNY holidays and I didn't want to wait for it to open next week. The vet was pretty thorough and very professional about her work though it didn't come cheap. My medication when I was sick was soooooo much cheaper than hers. I suppose being a vet these days must be a pretty lucrative business.

Now that all that is done, I can go back to looking for website hosting companies to host our company's website. So far I've narrowed it down to either of these two sites, Webhosting Hub or Go Daddy. Hopefully I'll be able to decide which one to go to by the end of today. I can be pretty fickle minded at times :D

All Day Snoozing

The Chinese New Year (CNY) is just around the corner and the town is going to be a nice quite place the next couple of days or at least I hope so.

Judging from what I heard on the radio and from Facebook updates and tweets out there, the exodus of people going back to their hometowns for the long CNY break has been pretty bad with traffic snarls all around the exits heading out of town.

Which is why I decided to stay home all day today. In fact, I've been sleeping practically the entire day. No, I've not become a lazy bum but I've been busy with a last minute work project that had me working in the bowels of the KLCC LRT station from midnight to 5.00am in the morning for the past two days helping out with installation work for a new ad campaign for a certain ice-cream brand in the country.

It's been a very tiring, not to mention sleep deprived two days and I used the entire day today to get back whatever sleep was lost. I was practically in bed from early morning till this evening, waking up just in time to clock in some mileage for an evening run before the rain came down. Now, I'm back to being sleepy and it'll probably be an early night for me.

I'm totally not used to working in the wee hours of the morning and it was kinda tough for me to adapt the past two days. The amount of work that was required for the campaign was not only laborious, it was utterly tedious. Trying to stay coherent that early in the morning took a huge effort. I'm just glad we managed to get things done and now I'm looking forward for some rest, well not really rest cos I'll probably be using the long CNY break to put in more runs ... hehehe ...

I'm hoping the place is going to be quiet but I'm bracing myself for a series of firecrackers being let off at midnight tomorrow. The firecrackers, though it's banned will always find a way to make an appearance. Speaks volumes for the level of enforcement in this country, ya? :P

I wonder if I'll get any 'ang pow' this year? Maybe one dressed up in a redenvelopes giant gummy bear costume? LOL! But all said and done, have fun during the coming CNY holidays but please remember to be safe on the roads.

Gong Xi Fa Cai to all my blog buddies and fellow Malaysians who are celebrating the occassion.

Hot, Down And Out

I've been out of the blogging loop for quite a while these days. The only times I actually post something are just after a race I've gone to and you're all probably bored to death about reading my running exploits already. I know I would be if I were in your shoes. Come on, you can be honest with me ... LOL!

Nothing much has been happening since the new year. The only thing of note is the fact that I'm swamped with work which is really surprising actually since every year before the Chinese New Year holidays we're practically sitting in the office all day and staring at the four walls. This year somehow it's been pretty different. I don't have time to even sit at my desk, let alone stare at the wall.

Too many rush jobs that need to be settled such as this Alpinestars Ridge Boots flyer, before the holidays start next week and with the current heat wave and my flu spell that I'm going through right now is just making things all the more difficult to cope hence the lack of time to blog.

I need a nice long break to just get away from all these stress for a bit. I would go out and run to try and clear the stress but I'm still suffering from a bout of the flu and the weather is just too crazily hot to run. Maybe when I recover that might be an option but not just yet. The heat is really excruciatingly hot the past week or two, 7.30pm in the evening looks like it's still 4.30pm with the blistering sun!

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go find some tissues and clear this blocked nose.