Is the glass half-full or half-empty?

Visualise this: You were made redundant a few months ago. You had been looking for jobs, but the outcome was less than encouraging. The responses to your job applications, so far, were rejections. The rationale commonly given by companies was 'We like you, but you are too qualified for the position'. The reality was that the companies had found someone cheaper i.e. someone who was willing to accept a much lesser salary. The person might have less qualifications or experiences than you, but he or she was more economical.

Things appeared to be turning around. You went for an interview today and you had been offered a job on the spot. But, the salary was much lesser than what you used to earn in the previous job. Let say, £12,000 less. However, the company, which had just offered you a job, was willing to increase the advertised salary by £4,000. Hence, if you chose to accept the job offer, your annual salary would be £32,000. However, as much as you would like to accept the job, you were unimpressed with this salary and, more importantly, the daily driving to the head office (around 1 hour drive from your home to Heathrow). To check if you could survive on this salary, you estimated the figures of your monthly expenses and then deducted the figures with your monthly income. The result was 'grim'. After covering main expenses (e.g. rent, petrol, car premium, mobile phone bill etc), you would probably only have £500 each month for grocery or food. Since you would be travelling to and from Heathrow each day, it would escalate the mileage on your car and, thus, would cost you some maintenance fee (eg brake maintenance etc) on the car. Based on these figures, would you rather reject the job offer and hope that a better offer will emerge later? How would you perceive this situation? The glass was half-empty or half-full?

Art or vandalism?

I went to visit some friends in Berkshire this weekend. To get there, I took a train. While I was waiting for my train in Platform 5, a train heading to Alton pulled up at Platform 4, which is across Platform 5. A 'painting' on the body of the Alton train captured my attention. See picture. Then, an interesting question popped in my head. Is the 'painting' art or vandalism? Or is it a combination of both? A bit of art and a bit of vandalism?

It is art, I think, because it requires an artistic mind to visually sketch the outline before he or she can skilfully spray-paint on the train. Also, it is an art because it requires a great control of a spray can in order to execute such artwork. On the other hand, it is vandalism because the ‘painting’ was executed on someone else’s property i.e. the train. The ‘artist’, unquestionably, has not sought permission from the owner of the train before executing his or her artwork.


I am not suggesting that painting someone else's property with graffiti without the owner's consent is a good thing. If I had a car, I would not want my car to be 'spray-painted' without my consent and knowledge. But, we cannot deny that graffiti is an art form in its own right. Graffiti, in a way, creates a 'zest' to the usually boring-looking South West trains.


I was looking for some information about graffiti online. Wikipedia claims that graffiti is a form of pop culture existence which is often related to underground hip-hop and b-boying. Wikipedia also claims that graffiti is often used as a gang symbol to mark territory or to serve as an indicator or 'tag' for gang-related activity. How fascinating is that? Is graffiti art or vandalism? I am sure the debate will continue for a while. What is your take?

To tell or not to tell?

In my previous blog, I mentioned that I gave myself half-a-day off and visited the town centre. I went to the bank to collect my new, shiny bank card. After that, I went to my favourite, little cafe (Coffee Culture) to have a nice brunch. Something interesting happened. The incident began like this:

I arrived at the cafe and I did my usual routine. I went to the shelf and tried to choose a panini that I would have. At this moment, a group of Greek guys walked in and, unexpectedly, they just 'cut in' in front of me. Without saying 'excuse me', they just stood in front of me and blocked my 'eye contact' with the shelf and interrupted my decision making process. How rude was that? Luckily, I was in good mood. I didn't make a fuss to them. I thought 'they are young and, obviously, still have a lot to learn about manners'. 'Never mind' I said to myself. I waited patiently for them to finish their orders and then I placed mine. I ordered a small cup of Gingerbread latte and a chicken, bacon and tomato panini. If you ever came across with Gingerbread latte on a cafe's menu, please do try it. It is actually quite nice.

While waiting for my panini to be toasted, I went to find a seat with my gingerbread latte. Outside of the cafe. I sat down, tried to get comfortable and was waiting eagerly for my panini. Thinking of the chicken and bacon of the panini made me drooling. Besides I was quite hungry as I did not have any breakfast. I waited and waited, my panini never came. So, I went to the counter and checked with Waitress A. She looked at my receipt and apologised for the delay. Waitress B, who took my order, looked puzzled and, sort of, mumbled to her workmate that 'no, I toasted it'. I labelled the waitress by alphabets to highlight that there were two waitresses working at the cafe.

I went back to my table and, once again, waited patiently for my panini. It seemed that the waitress did deliver my 'first' panini, but to the wrong table. Guess which table she had delivered it to? The Greek guys. They obviously knew it was not their panini, and yet, they said nothing. They just let the panini sat on the table, while they were conversing with each other. No, they did not take a bite of the panini. But, why didn't they say something to the waitress?

If you were reading my blog, I have a question for you. Who was to be blamed for this panini incident? Was it the waitress? Was it the Greek guys? Were the Greek guys 'obligated' to inform the waitress about the unexpected delivery? Hypothetically, if one of the Greek guys did eat the panini, could the waitress charge him for it? When someone consumes a dish that is accidentally delivered to him or her, will you consider such act as 'stealing'? After all, he or she does not pay for the dish. As a conclusion to this blog, will you do if you receive a meal that you do not order at a cafe or restaurant? Say something? Or just eat it?

Why have I been slack?

It has been a while since I update my blog. I apologise to my followers out there. Life has been very hectic, with work and study. I just finished revising my literature review chapter. I did not go to bed until 2am the night before. At the same time, I have 80 assignments, 10 final year projects and 1 resubmitted thesis to mark. 20 more assignments are on the way (the assignment is due today). I work constantly, either on my teaching stuff or on my study. How do I manage? I guess I just keep ploughing. The more I put it (work) off, the more I have to do later. As my honours supervisors constantly said to me 'Just Do It'. She was and still is right. Sometimes you just have to 'Just Do It'. I hope Nike will not sue me for using their slogan, which they are going to ditch soon (I read it from a marketing magazine).

 So, I finished revising my literature review chapter. I felt quite accomplished with myself. To reward my (self-claimed) accomplishment, I decided to have half-a-day off by visiting to the town centre. I needed to go my bank anyway. I needed to collect and activate my new bank card. In my previous blog, I mentioned that my replacement card was sent to Australia, an action from my bank which I could not fathom. I finally got my new, shiny bank card after a week. I must say, without my bank card, I actually spent less and managed to save some money. Also, it made me realised that I spent too much previously. I need to start saving money if I were to buy a property and settle down in UK. I know, I may be daydreaming. The properties in UK are so expensive. With my salary, I doubt I can even save enough for the deposit of a house, unless I won lotto or received a lump-sum inheritance from a multibillionaire relative. Of course, I do not have such relative. Enough of these daydreaming, I better get back to work. Now you know why I have been slack with my blogging!

A week without debit card - How do I cope? (cont)

1st May - I travelled to Berkshire to visit some friends. I bought my train ticket, some groceries and a bottle of wine (Pinot Noir) with cash. I still manage to spend even without my debit card.

2nd May - I paid my haircut with cash. I bought some newspapers on the way home and paid with cash as well. I did not spend a dime after that.

3rd May - I went back to Guildford. I worked in the office a little bit as I had a number of MSc proposals to mark. I went to watch Iron Man 2 which was 'so so'. I had lunch at Wagamama which was my second choice. My first choice was Nando's, but the waitress was rude to me and also they ran out of chicken. What would Nando's sell when they ran out of chicken? Beef burgers? I paid all my expenses with cash.

4th May - I had an early workout at the gym. I went to Tesco to get some food for dinner, including kebabs, tomatos and wild rocket. I also bought some breakfast from Tesco as I was starving my gym session. I went to work as I had a MSc meeting. I spent £1.30 on two chocolate bars. I came home at around 5ish and went to the shop to get some milk and a bag of fresh fries. Again, I paid all my transactions with cash.