San’s family journal

This is the kind of view that i used to see every morning when i go to work.

My pc monitor malfunctioned two and a half month ago and I asked the help of the head of department to replace the monitor. He requested me to get the verification from the IT department so that I can process with the purchase request. And at the same time, he would like me to get the recommendation letter from the IT department for he himself and another lecturer to change the monitor as well.

So I proceeded and contacted the IT department. The IT department is filled by a bunch of ultra inefficient employees and I got my letter of recommendation yesterday. This is okay as it is already an accepted fact that the IT department is like that. The thing that really pissed me off is when I handed in the letter to get the purchase request; I found out that the head of department already requested two new monitors from himself and the other lecturer months two months ago. Luckily there was an old monitor lying around in the laboratory that I could use for the time being, or else I am with a headless PC until now.

The other thing with this @#$% head, is he is rather irresponsible as before the semester started, I already asked him for advice to split my class into two as the number of student was expected to exceed 50 students. He suggested waiting until the semester start then only I could found out the exact number of student. Then I asked his permission kick out the student once the 50 official limit is reached because it is impossible to split the class once the semester starts as the timetabling will be a hell of mess and he agreed. Now there are still students coming to register for the class and I ask them to get permission from the head and this head asks them to get permission from me instead. He is pushing back the responsibility to me now. If I allow a student to come in, then it will not be fair to those who I have kicked out. If the head give special permission, then I can answer to those kick-out students that some students are allow to take the class because they got special permission from the head.

This lousy head is really getting to my nerves.

Yesterday sermon was shared by a believer-turned-pastor about the way he was brought back by the Lord from the edge of life-threatening illness.

He said that God is willing to help you as He is just waiting for you to ask for it. So, does it mean that God will not help you if you do not ask for it? Since God already knew that you would not ask for it, then why would Him wait for you to ask for it? If you ask for it and you didn’t get the help, does it mean that God is not willing to help you?

I guess I might be thinking too much. Anyhow, this idea sort of flying through my mind while I was thinking about the question; no answer from God is an answer.

Yen’s mother is still bearing grudges on God for letting her hip to be shattered on that fateful day. She complained that she would rather die wheelchair as it is causing her so much inconvenience and pain. On top of that, she has more difficulty in sleeping at night after the accident.

There are people out there doing whatever they could just to stay alive and Mother-in-law is willing to give up her life. It is just plain absurd to think about it in that way. Nonetheless, I guess with the life and marriage that she has been through and without a very strong faith in God, it is rather a logical conclusion anyone could come out of it.

If I were 73 years old, crippled, wheelchair-ridden, totally dependent on others and feeling ill most of the time, how would I be acting then? May be that is not the question I should be asking. I guess I should be more aware of things and people that are around me and threat them with whatever that is due to them. No regrets!

I came across the advertisement for a household water treatment system. What caught my attention was the phrase it highlighted. It was like “Are you giving the best water to your baby?”

Well, I can say that the person who devised the advertisement was very good psychologically. As an adult, you might not even think twice about what you pour into your stomach. But as a parent, you will definitely try to give the best to their children. I don’t know, but I guess that advertisement may have a higher percentage in scoring a hit with that strategy.

But come to think about it, the advertiser didn’t say that their water treatment system is the best, but with the question they displayed on the newspaper, I guess the parents will subconsciously think that the water treatment system is the best. So I guess this is the second level of the psychological effect. Isn’t that interesting?

Undeniable, the said water treatment system is one of the best in the market, but it costs more than my monthly salary. If I want to give the best thing to my child and not just for saying only, I guess I should buy the water treatment system by any means. Then by putting my feeling aside, what does it mean by the best water? Is giving my child the cleanest water possible benefits my child? Are there no other ways to have quality water except buying that product? If the advertiser care about what our children are drinking, why are they selling the product with such a high price?

Hmm… nowadays, the advertisement will just hit you from all sides.      

I watched the “Inside” at the discovery channel yesterday night. It was about a doctor who performed free cataract treatment for the 1000 North Korean people. It also talked a bit about the history and the civil environment in that country.

To my surprise just as the host of the show, after the people were healed and regained sights, I thought they will thank or even kneel to the doctor, but instead, they thanked and kneeled to their Great Leader. Well, I guess they were acting like what they supposed to be acting. The other reason that I can think of is that since they were the only chosen 1000 among many cataract patients.

A country with that kind of civil condition and still able to possess nuclear weapon, I just can’t imagine how the Great Leader actually did that.  

After father departed, we cleansed the body and dressed him up. While we were waiting for the dawn to come, we flipped the photos that were taken when we were young. We enjoyed the time as we laughed at each other about how we looked like when we were young. Father was actually quite slim and without the belly. During the mourning period, we didn’t actually do the mourning. My mother didn’t on the morning attire as well. All the children were playing here and there around father’s coffin. After the funeral, at the evening, we had a wonderful dinner at a chinese restaurant.

There were many relatives that were not so accustomed to the way we behaved over the last three days. I don’t blame them at all because they were not Christians yet. When the time my grandfather past away, the environment was totally different. Even though we are Christians, but we have to observed some of the Chinese traditions as well because we are Chinese at the same time.

For us, we are very glad that father departed peacefully and gracefully without any regrets. We also know that we will be seeing him again in heaven in a not every far future. The most important thing is that we are very sure that he is now with Jesus and that is something as wonderful as one can imagine. Thus, there is no mourning whatsoever is needed. Anyway, don’t get me wrong, we are saddened by the fact that father is not longer with us though he was not as good as we expected from him. We are human beings after all. The ultimate thing is father is waiting for us in heaven.       

I was so mad about Yen the other day when she went into the kitchen while I was cooking to light the mosquito coil with the stove. I asked her why she didn’t use the lighter. She replied she didn’t know how to use a lighter. 

Have you ever come across any grownups that don’t know how to operate a lighter? Ladies and gentlemen, presenting Yen, my wife. I still could remember that I tough her how to use one some weeks ago and now she was giving me the usual I don’t know stuff. That was really a blow to the gas outlet and I started to jump. She even refused to learn how to use a lighter and what I am getting here? A wife that always say I don’t know, I forget, I don’t know how etc.

Well… after venting of some serious complaint about her attitude towards learning trivial things, I started to feel that I was just wasting my breath as I knew that she will be saying the same don’t know stuff not before long. I guess getting a wife is getting whatever of hers in a package. Maybe I really have to get serious about accepting her as herself though it sounds very wrong logically.

The mother dog opposite my house was sad lately. May be it was due to me for not seeing clearly or something as the mother dog somehow seems thinner then the time when she had her puppies with her. 

I guess the owner had sent the puppies away to somewhere the mother misses her puppies and was not able to eat well. Maybe I am bit sentimental here but it seems like I could actually see the sad expression on the mother dog’s face. The puppies were all very cute and healthy. It was kind of fun to see then wobbling here and there. One of puppies used to come and greet us every time we went to open our gate.

We were actually got tempted to adopt the cutest puppy among them, but somehow the reality sunk in and we were deterred by the fact that we have to take care of the puppy on top of a handful of household chores.