For a Good Cause Anyway

An SMS from my youngest cousin got me thinking real hard. She asked whether I can pay some of her college tuition, because her father and mother is now retired and it’s a pity if she would have to quit her school only for that. I understand what they've been through and if this had come a year earlier I would not have to think twice to help her.

For almost a year now I’ve been giving some amount of money to our office boy, (well probably office aid because he’s much older than me), Mr. Noor, to help him with the education of his two children. It’s not a burden really, I am truthfully and honestly glad that I could help him, and in the process he shows me his son and daughter’s grade and report books each month to actually follow their progress.

They’ve been pretty good at school with several eights and nines in Math and English. Besides, if you meet Pak Noor, he’s this very humble, nice, and religious man with plenty of hilarious ideas and always ready with a helpful hand. He’s just unlucky that he didn’t have the chance to enjoy decent education like others especially with his wife being sick from time to time. It is not an option to stop helping him now even though he said that he just had a rise this month.

With the oil and gas prices hiking up and without any significant pay rise from my office, I’ve been pretty lucky lately due to several side projects that pay handsomely. But most of them will have to go to the bank account to pay for our future house. And by purchasing a PDA a while a go (something I needed badly, it’s not an impulse buy or for showing off), the purse string is pretty tight right now. I have some other projects in the pipeline that will due to payment in near future but I cannot count my chicken from any eggs just yet. I’ve been too familiar with clients suddenly goes missing when it’s time to pay up.

Well maybe I just have to learn to live rather more cost effective. Perhaps I will have to skip every breakfast and in the meantime reducing my weight in the process. That would be great, isn’t it? I’ve been doing some sit ups lately and I can hardly see any difference on my belly. In fact this morning in front of the elevator I met Lily, my former classmate and she said something about how I look fatter than ever. In the immortal words of Chandler Bing, "Could I BE any fatter?" I guess that’s not very flattering, so a more drastic actions indeed required. And also especially with the flag price for Taxi in Jakarta is up 30% I will have to lessen the frequency of using taxi too, there’s plenty of motor taxi available near here though, and walking every now and then, will always be good for my cholesterol, he he … It’s for a good cause anyway.

Err ... don’t mind this. It’s only a random musing just to pour it out somewhere so that I can actually think clearly. Hopefully side projects will keep on coming my way and conceivably it’s not too late to hope for the oil and gas price return back the way they were right? Or is it?