It's weird how the dilemma published in The Star today can be so relevant to my life
Yesterday afternoon, my sister called when I was playing RO.
Sis: Hello, what are you doing?
Me: Playing games lo, as usual.
Sis: You're playing game all day one ar? I just knew about this
temp job in my company, do you wanna try it?
Me: I don't know.... (Horrible images of being a slave in my much-needed holidays flashed across my mind)
Sis: It has to do with builing a web portal related to manufacturing. Since you have basic HTML skills I think you can try that job. You'll get to learn some stuff for the future anyway, and it'll look good in your resume.
Me: What's the pay?
Sis: The pay isn't that good lah, 500 only, but it's a temporary job that lasts for 2 months after all.
Me: Uh...... I don't really want to do a job you know....
Sis: Then, what do you plan to do? Sit around all day wasting time in the holidays?
Me: Um... something like that..... (Hell, yeah! That's exactly my plan.) But I would have lost my holidays.
Sis: You can still play RO at night and in the weekends, right? Don't be like that la, this is a good opportunity you know. You should really try that....
Me: Okay..... gua (my slur began more and more obvious)
Sis: Ok, you email me your resume to me today before 5.
So, I took some time, rather unwillingly, to produce a resume for her. Being a perfectionist, I scanned pictures of my exams certificate (which I'm proud of) and put them into the MS Word document, and the size of the file ballooned to
25MB. Oh O! Under normal circumstances I would freak out but luckily in the past, I downloaded and installed Adobe Acrobat illegally just for fun, and now it comes in handy. The humungous word file was converted to a tiny 370 KB pdf file. Pleased, I sent it.
At night, my sister called again.
Sis: I forwarded the email already and they'll call you in for an interview. Anyway, you're going to Singapore right? We can go together with my husband (driving) in the weekends, because they got sales there.
Me: Okay.... that sounds like a great idea...
Sis: You need to stop slurring like this, brush up your presentation skill, later how are you going to get the job when they interview you?
Me: Ah..... I told you already. I don't really want the job........ That's why I'm gonna sound this unenthusiastic.....just go there and try la...
Sis: How can you say like that? Make up your mind okay? This is not the first time. Like in the previous time you rejected the JPA scholarship.
Me: Well, in retrospect, I think it's a wise decision. I don't regret anymore. 5 years of studying just to get a technical diploma in Japan doesn't sound right to me.
Sis: There's good and bad. You cannot close your mindset like that. Last time, I took you for a swimming course and you stopped halfway. You will regret you know when you go to a beach with your friends as you sit alone when your friends are playing in the water.
Me: Yeah... but I don't care.
Sis: You are always like that. Why can't you open your mind? That job is good you know, you can learn a lot of stuff. Last time I also, blah blah...blah (talked about her work experience)
Me: I know the job is a good opportunity but I'm so tired already after being so active in the Computer club....builing the school website......then SPM, NS and A-levels. I need to have a break, a long break.
Sis: What? blah..blah blah......blah (same nagging and lecturing)
I bet you'll never succeed in life. I know. I can tell you you'll never be happy with your studies, your job, and you'll never earn a lot of money with this kind of attitude. You'll just be contended with a simple life but you'll not be happy either.Me: Yeah, yeah (Whatever.)
Sis: blah...blah blah blah... (another long-winded lecturing on how I ought to think)
Me: Okay, sis. I tell you what. I'm sorry. My decision has always been what I told you in the beginning.
No, I don't want the job.Sis: Okay, if you insist, but you don't regret after this.
Sigh, all I wanted was a (long) holiday. I knew I had missed out on a good opportunity to put my free time to good use and make a quick buck in the process, but I really wanted to enjoy doing nothing in this period of time. My dad has also advised me before that I'll spend the rest of my life working so I might as well start working seriously only after graduation. Holidays, like these, he said, should be used to go to other countries, touring and seeing new stuff.
Okay, both of them wanted me to do something in the holidays, but I chose to do nothing instead. I may go on a vacation but I don't feel like doing that alone since noone is going to accompany me.
But I've been rethinking what my sister said to me. I'm afraid that she may be right. I realized there's a fine line between taking a break and being a sloth. The image of suffering from a life of "meaninglessness" for the other two months flashed across my mind.
I've been ruminating about this issue for the whole day. It really sucks, man! I think I may follow the footstep of my uncle, who is still trying to pass his lawyer test and has never really got himself a job even at his 60s now. God knows how he thinks but it seems that he's not ashamed of being jobless and dependent on his mother (until she passed away) and relatives for his entire life even until now.
I'm not sure I should start being productive. I just wanted to have a time where I have nothing to worry and stress about. I have enjoyed that for more than one week now. I really enjoyed it. But is it too long to enjoy that for three months?