The interest rates have gone up again. This would be the sixth increase since I took out my home loan in August 2009. When I first started paying it off, it was already limiting my savings and now it’s beginning to feel very stifling. The difference from the first month’s repayment and next month’s is about a couple of hundred dollars.

This may not seem like much but added up over a year that’s over $2000 – that’s a nice holiday that I have been enjoying every year since I’ve started working or a nice beefy laptop to replace my aging desktop. And it also means that if a rainy day ever comes, it better not rain for too long because my savings now won’t last me very long.

I’m already very stingy with myself but every little sum piles on. There’s things like the cost of my car and medical insurance, public transport, car registration and fuel, daily lunches and phone bill. There’s also the costs associated with being a property owner like the council and water rates – on a piece of land that I don’t live on no less.

And then there’s going out which is something I’m not willing to cut back on because I don’t spend that much as it is, and with my high pressure job, I need it to decompress. Which is just as well that I’m not dating anyone because I really don’t know how I’d cope. And even if I was dating someone, they would probably not be impressed with how stingy I am, right? Hah!

I have thought about selling the land but an empty plot of land won’t appreciate as much as one with a house on top of it. Then again, even if there was a house on it, now would not be the best time to sell because the housing bubble have started to correct itself.

Although I might have to seriously consider it if interest rates go up again and by how much – there might be two more increases this year, in August and in November.

Because I really hate this feeling of having little to no buffer in my finances and not being able to save for contingencies, much less to spend on nice things for myself. Until then, my only luxury and indulgence is going out with my friends. You guys better make it worthwhile for me. Hahah!

I work for MYOB, the Australian company that makes the accounting software and here’s proof! However, I get the same questions about my job every time that I tell people so I thought I might as well write a post about it.

The things to get out of the way first:

• I’m not an accountant and I don’t know how to use the accounting software.
• I don’t provide technical support for it, nor do I program or code for it.
• I can’t get you a discount on the software – I have no connection to that side of the business at all.

So what is it that I do for MYOB? I work for a business division that provides web and email hosting services for small to medium-sized companies – the same kind of companies that would buy MYOB’s accounting software. What that means is that these companies come to us to host their website and business emails when managing and maintaining their own email and web servers is not logical, economically feasible, or is more hassle to them than it’s worth.

Plus, they don’t have the economies of scale to provide the backup, the redundancy and the up-time (99.99%) that we can.

The business division has three brands and they are essentially the same products but with different pricing and different levels of support:

• Ilisys – I started with this company on the day it was bought out by MYOB, March 2008.
• Smartyhost
• MYOB Business Web Hosting

My official title is “Webhosting Technical Support Specialist”. The support that my team mates and I provide does not include the design of websites – that is left to the customer or the web-designer that they’d contract the job out to. Our job is to help keep the sites running once they have been uploaded to our servers, and to ensure that customers can receive and retrieve their business emails. We also help with the registration and renewals of domain names (for example, mooiness.com is a domain name). And we provide basic support with setting up email software like Microsoft Outlook and web-design tools like Dreamweaver.

The tools of my trade include the Internet, woohoo! That means I’m constantly on the net all the time and I’ve got an excuse for it. And yes, that is why I seem to be on Facebook and MSN a lot. Being able to read and browse the Internet is also good for stress-relief because as you can imagine, customers only call or email when there’s a problem and sometimes it’s our fault. However, the occasional “thank you” from a happy customer is quite satisfying.

Oh and I shall leave you with two images to help you picture my job better. Most times, I look like Trinity in the Matrix, ie. I am not smiling and I frown a lot. Hah!

And the way we administer the servers and files makes it look like we are l33t haxx0rs but it’s nothing as impressive. But I do love doing things on the command line just because every non-IT person thinks it looks cool.

I’ve never been good talking on the phone. I once had a girl lose interest in me because I couldn’t converse well enough on the phone, or so I was told by her best friend. Of all the things to get rejected by! According to her, it sounded like I was bored and in a hurry and therefore meant that I didn’t really care what she was saying. Yeah I was bored but I guess I could have faked it better. Hah!

On the contrary I have been told that I’m a good listener. But the big difference? It’s usually when I’m face to face with the person. I work better when I can see the other person’s facial expressions and body language and can hear the tone of voice clearly. I know what to say next, when to nod, when to laugh and when to give a slight touch to show that I am really paying attention.

It may seem like I love stringing words together in wonderful sentences in the written form, but I prefer the stop and start, the back and forth and the unpredictability of a real live conversation. Instant messaging may come close but not quite because again, I can’t see the face and the body and I can’t hear the tone of voice. I don’t know how to make adjustments on the fly because I can’t see your reaction to what I’m saying.

Modern technology has given a shitty phone talker like me more options to get in touch with someone but I still love me some face time. So yeah, I may sound bored and in a hurry when I’m on the phone with you but that’s only because I want to get it over with, so that I can see you for real.

I met Ashley in November 2009. There was a joint-birthday party at my house and she was the friend of a co-host. We have since become quite close friends in a short period of time. We can talk about anything and sometimes she’s so in tune with my emotional and romantic values that it’s freaky. She thinks so much like a guy sometimes that I think she’s one in disguise. Hah!

Like my other close female friends, being with her is easy-going, comforting and relaxing. So welcome to my harem of female friends Ash where the way to keep me happy is to stay the same person as you are now. And say hello to your harem-sisters Kayo, Lydia and Selina.

Right now, I can hear my mother yelling in the background:

You don’t need more female friends! You need a girlfriend! And I want grandchildren!

Heh sorry mom. Am working on that still.

I was scheduled to do the weekend shift this week so I had Thursday and Friday off. On my two days off, although I kept thinking to myself that I should be making up for my lost weekend by doing something, I ended up staying indoors and playing video games for both days, the whole day. In between that, I napped and killed time by mindlessly browsing the Internet.

I was feeling that I might have wasted my two days off but at the same time, is it really wasted when I was perfectly contented? In general, this seems to be the way I’m feeling towards my life and career.

Long ago, I’ve recognised that I don’t have the ambition and drive to achieve something just for the sake of achievement. It is expected for people to continually climb the career ladder for more money and responsibility. But I don’t feel the incessant need to do so even though both things are fulfilling to most people. I will only go for something when I feel I’m ready for it. I don’t force a schedule onto myself.

I don’t have a list of things to do before I turn such and such age, and I don’t have places to see and things to eat before I die. I don’t have a bucket list because I don’t measure the worth of my life with milestones.

I do measure it though with the personal relationships that I have in my life. And right now, it’s pretty damn good. Maybe that’s why I’m feeling so contented when common perception is that I can and should be doing more with my life.

p.s. I made up for the lost weekend by going out on Saturday night and having myself an awfully good time but the two tequila shots at the end of it was two tequila shots too many.

Sunday morning at work, rocking the hair
that’s leftover from Saturday night

I went to the Lady Gaga concert at the Burswood Dome on Friday with Kayo and Simon. In a nutshell, Lady Gaga live > Britney live. She has a really strong voice for a diminutive person and her live singing was flawless. She plays the piano and a little bit of the guitar. Plus, she interacted with the crowd a lot and although the stage production was not as elaborate as Britney’s, it was still impressive.

She sang most of her hits which were all very danceable saved for a couple of ballads in between. I would have liked it if she had sang “Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)” though because that would have been an awesome singalong song. But it’s one small complain.

Plus, her ticket was only $90 compared to Britney’s which was $200 (we had paid only $50 thanks to a deal that Kayo got for us). So in my opinion, her concert was better than Britney’s even if the stadium wasn’t as packed. We all had a lot of fun.

Oh I said I have no good photos but I guess I can show you this one. Knowing that the iPhone’s camera is really crappy in low-light conditions, I tried in vain to get a couple of good shots. Never mind, you get the idea – that’s how close I got to the stage. The glowing figure in the middle is her.

Tham gave me a new nickname the other day. He called me “The Happy Cynic”. My close friends would know that is an apt description. I’m more a pessimist than an optimist but I don’t mope around bringing other people down. Instead, I remain happy which may seem paradoxical at first.

My favourite phrases of incredulity are “yeah right” and “that will not happen in real life”, which makes me a pain to be around if we are watching a romantic comedy together. But it doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy them in small doses. It just means that I take it all with a grain of salt. I enjoy brief moments of fantasy but I don’t let it fool me into thinking happy endings are the norm rather than the exception.

I dream and fantasise like everyone does but I don’t over-indulge in it. I treat them as brief escapes. Even when I’m on the cusp of something truly wonderful, I’d hold myself back least it doesn’t become true. Even when I’m truly happy I will be the first to remind myself that it may all be temporary. And therein lies the secret to my madness: because I know it’s temporary and hard to come by, I will make sure that I enjoy every good moment that comes my way.

And because I’m pessimistic about my own happiness, I choose to be happy about the simplest things in life. Makes sense now right?