f . i . r

I'll be leaving to Terengganu later tonight at 10.30pm for the final chapter of my vacation....before I finally return to reality and face torture of the corporate world. Still packing my stuffs now (2 weeks plus of clothes, games, tv series and books!) while listening to some emo music on Winamp.


By the way...


Wondering why does the title of this post sounds so familiar, especially to Chinese songs' listeners?


.

..

...


YES! It's F.I.R, the rock band from Taiwan, and they're coming down to Malaysia for their 1st ever concert! I'm a freaking HUGE fan of them, and as expected, I just bought the ticket to their concert. Yes, regardless of my 'running-low' funds, I still fork out some cash to buy an early bird ticket to see them in concert. And I'm going alone, which means no waiting, no 'potong-stim-due-to-watching-with-non-F.I.R-fans', no nonsense, no bugging to go home early, just HIGH, HIGH, and HIGH ALL THE WAY!!!




F.I.R, here I come!!

Gosh, enough of being high, need to continue packing for tonight. Bye, people.

q u e s t i o n s

I just reached back home 12am this morning, after finally settling everything over at my colleague's hometown. Basically I've completed everything I need to do over there, just that his cybercafe still cannot open yet because those TMNet people are taking ages to setup his Internet connection. What's a cybercafe without Internet connection? Haihz...


And you know what?


I didn't charge him a single sen for my consulting services.


Yes, I may sound a little stupid and id*ot for not charging him anything for all those things I've done for his cybercafe. Maybe it's because he is the one providing all the transport, food, & accommodation for me while I'm there. Maybe I feel that I should not charge him because along the process of setting up his cybercafe, I learnt a lot of new things I've never known before this. Maybe I always keep in mind that this is a 'fully sponsored vacation' instead of a consulting service for an ex-colleague. I don't know. I really don't know.


While I sleep at my bed this morning, I kept thinking of this move I've took. Why did I not charge him for my services? Why am I so stupid? My funds are running out real soon already, why am I not just being money-minded, thick-faced for a second and ask him for payment for my services?


.

..

...


Questions, questions, and more questions.


Now, I already stop thinking about all this. Just stop thinking of charging him anything; it's actually a 2-way beneficial campaign. He gets what he wants for his cybercafe, I get what I want for knowledge (and not money). Somehow, I feel much better and enlightened this way.


Anyway...


I'll be leaving again to the final vacation place before I officially, actively, look for a job to refill my funds, and the final trip will begin this Thursday and most probably will be the longest trip I've taken as compared to the previous ones. As of then, I'll need to chill a lil' for now.


More rest, then packing...again.

c o n s u l t i n g

I returned from my longggg 3rd vacation and a very brief 4th vacation last Saturday, and here I am, back home, getting some much deserved rest & coolling down when suddenly, my ex-colleague who is still working with my ex-company and owns a computer shop back in his hometown (weird, ehh?) , calls me up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Colleague : Hey, are you interested to become consultant for my cybercafe? I'm planning to open one at my hometown.

Me : Ermm, ok, should be no problem. So, what should I do? And when do I start work?

Colleague explains the details.

Colleague : So, I'll need you to follow me back to my hometown this Thursday. I'll send you there and back here to PJ next Monday. This trip is fully sponsored, so you don't have to worry to spend even a single cent.

Me : Sounds good. Ok, see you then.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After putting down the phone, I was slightly devastated. I'm a person who likes going according to plan, and when last minute stuffs like this happen to me, I feel like sh*t. Basically, my initial plans for my whole vacation are partly ruined. Initially, I've planned a 1 1/2 weeks break gap before I go to the 5th & last vacation of mine, which is going back to Terengganu, before I even start looking for a new job (as my funds are pretty empty already). Now that this 'consulting' thing cuts a path in between my break gap, seems like I'll need to reschedule everything.


Back to the 'so-called-freelance-consulting' for my ex-colleague's upcoming cybercafe.


To cut a long story short, well, my ex-colleague, let's address him as W. W plans to open a cybercafe just next to his computer shop at his hometown. As we all know so much, most cybercafe will be as good as dead if there were no online games or stuffs like that in it. Too bad W is not a gamer himself; he's more like some crazy-@$$ workaholic. Which is why he came to me for help in consulting him about setting up stuffs related to online games. Basically this is the case.


One more thing.


Do you know I'm SO stupid that I didn't ask him anything about charging him for my 'consulting'? I mean, usually consultants charge a specific fee whenever their services are needed, and maybe I'm stoned or blur at that time when I spoke with W, but I didn't mention about the fees or stuffs like that. Most probably because I just woke up at that time & my mind isn't that alert yet. Moreover after listening to him saying that he'll fully sponsor the trip to his hometown to get the games' setup done, maybe I'm merely overjoyed at this until I forgot to ask him one very simple question.


How much are you paying me to do all this?


This question definitely sound materialistic & money-minded, but d*mnit, I will need some extra cash to fill up my 'already-running-low' funds, right? Tell me, if you were me, how much do you think I should charge him for my service? Moreover, I'm not a professional consultant, just a freelance, and I've never did anything at his side yet, that's why I don't really want to overcharge him or something like that.

Enough for now. Need to get packing already as he'll be coming over to fetch me to his hometown later in the evening. More updates later.


Off-topic : Pelfy, I've bought some souvenirs in the form of yummy FOOD for you. If interested, hmm...gimme a call after I'm back next Monday. Heh...and I miss you so much, dai kah cher!!!