Land of the forgotten

Thursday, May 26, 2005

My cousin ash wrote this to her brother. A very interesting letter and I got thousand and one things to say about it.

Dear Bro,

It is lecture time again. Perhaps it is my fault that I never sit down and talk to you about all these. The value of money? How much do you know about it? You know that you need it when you are out with your friends.. be it catching a show or eating a meal. Or you need it to buy something which you desire.

Yet, you understand that we are not that well-to-do to give you a lot. What does this mean? To get something you want, the best way is earn it yourself.

I am sure that you have watched thousands of anime showing you about main characters working while studying. You are lucky as we never want you to work while studying. Given a choice, I seriously OBJECT ON THIS. It is very tiring, I know it myself.

But it is the holidays now. I know you want to have fun. I know you want to relax after exams. You must realise that you can, evening working a temp job! You will appreciate your fun even more. We are not asking you to working 7 days around the clock. You always have the weekends with your friends. If you hate to work so much, just take some ad hoc basis jobs such as IT events. Besides your friends' lobangs, look out for more youself by registering to some agencies. It is a good learning process about interviews etc. It is not about the money because there is not much money you can earn within such a short period of time. The reason why mom kept pestering you to get a job is that she hopes you will gain an experence and have a valuable lesson about working life.

You are the fortunate one. Dont compare yourself with other rich kids. If you must, compare with your sis.

I started work when I was 16, serving tables and teaching tuition. At 18, I worked half a year at MINDEF. Then, I worked as sales before, standing all day for 12 hours. On and off, I taught tuition and took up other ad hoc basis jobs which I'm sure you never know about. I am not a money-minded person, in fact I detest money. I would rather be a hermit at some faraway mountain areas in Tibet. But the hard truth in life is our lives depend on money and we have a responsibility to our family. I earned my own pocket money during last two years of study years after you started studying. I wanted mom to have less burden, so I fed myself and paid my own bills (including the bloody internet, of course). No one ever asks me to work. I work because I want to be independent.

We are merely asking you to work for an experience. But quite frankly, two months of experience may not be much in the eyes of many employers. Still, it is something you can talk about it in future.

During the holidays, I hope you can earn some cash for yourself and gain an experience (I am repeating this word like mad). You can even try to save up for a graduation trip with your friends By then, THAT is your last holidays! Make it as your goal. If you cant save enough then, I can help to chip in. In my case, I managed to save up for a Thailand trip. Learn to save. You then realise that you dont have to be broke every time. There are many working adults who spend their salaries to their last penny. Looking at the status of your bank account, I am just worried that you will be like that in future. (I will so slap you if you turn out like that)

A good way to start is to save 10% of your pocket money. Make them untouchable. NEVER USE THEM UNDER WHATEVER CIRCUMSTANCES. (This is primary school knowledge, mind you.)

I'm sure that you are old enough to think. Stop 'nua-ing'. Think more about what you want to do with your life. Otherwise, you will be a lost sheep when you have graduated. After graduation, you may not have to look for a job. You can always look out for internship or whatever. I know you have your own dreams. However, there are choices everywhere in life, the trick is to find them and turn them into dreams which will come true for you.

If you lack of money during the holidays, get it from me. (=___=)

Hope this letter will help. If you are free, write me a letter back. I will read it after I get home from work.

Cheerios,

Sis

My reply,

Dear pixie cousin,

Hmmm... dear cousin of mine. Would like to express my thoughts on this topic.
I think the very first thing, that nagging is totally a waste of time. I think most of the boys out there will agree with me. Nagging dont work~ Well maybe it will work after prolong nagging. But it is just a 5 minutes thing. Once your not looking, we will change back to our usual way. And further more, when being forced into doing something, i doubt my younger cousin will learn much.

Secondly, about experience from the job. Ah~ cut all this bullshit. At this age, experience this word is just experience. There is no deeper meaning other than it is a 10 letters in the word. I agree that you pick up skills and experiences in jobs, (must underline the word skills. I think that is a more valuable assert you gain in jobs) But people wont appreciate it till they really start working.

Finally, I strongly believe the motivator in everything is Money, what some will call the root of all evil. What does the value of money means to someone will greatly affect how he sees things. If I can get money when I reach out my hand, then the value of money is just a 'reach'. How much effort do you need to do a 'reach'? I shall not explain further. Seriously, I think this lesson on money is not taught anywhere else but inside your own family.

I should say I had a solid foundation since young. Mom gave me very limited pocket money. Had to balance my own equation of spending and saving. I should say I am the worst in the three of my siblings. Haha~ Everything is still like a two sided savings and spending thing till I heard Robert T. Kiyisaki’s talk and read his RDPD. He is a really powerful speaker. Being able to hear him personally really changed my obsolete views. Dear cousin, I do not know what will work for my younger cousin. But I hope you can find out together with him and walk this path with him.

I am still not done with this yet, and I really want to write more, but i need sleep for tomorrow work.

By the way, I started working the third day after my exam and every one of my friends called me crazy. Ironical?

Miyuki leaving skool at 1:52 am

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