moolah

woohoo! pay came in today together with the annual bonus.. i dun think i've ever seen my bank account shoot up like this before.. haha

but it's not the amount per se.. rather, it was the recognition.

the email they sent out said that we would be getting 2.2 months of bonus. someone in the office said that that would be the minimum amount that anyone who performed reasonably well would have gotten. so if you performed well, you should get more than that lah.

so i did a bit of calculation.. and i found that they gave me closer to 2.5 months rather than 2.2. 0.3 months may not sound like a lot lah, but i feel good when i hear that most of the other people are getting 2.2. and because i've recently been confirmed, i got my first ever pay increment - of 35 bucks.. lol.. but again, it makes me feel good knowing that other people got 20, 20+?

maybe it's due to the fact that i got a B for my December appraisal. my supervisor told me that it was "actually more like a B+ lah, but we don't have B+s, only Bs. and we can't give you an A cos this is only your first year with us and A is usually for those to be promoted."

but like i said, it's not about the money per se, or beating the rest of your peers. but rather, it's the recognition - and i'm grateful for that. at least i know now that i'm sorta doing things right and going in the right direction.

* * *

with all the buzz about bonus, the inevitable topic of money and finances was bound to come up. and i revealed that i actually have a small sum of money that my mum gave me last time in some unit trusts as investment - and which i consider it to be money for my ... *scary violin music* .... marriage... lol. it's not much lah, but then i'm not planning to get tied down so soon anyway.

actually, i have never thot of a use for that sum of money until recently. one of the things about working is that you come into contact with colleagues who are already married with kids - conversation topics tend to be more family-oriented too. was a bit of a culture shock at first, but now i'm slowly getting used to it lah. and i dunno how it happened, but when i was re-evaluating my finances recently, and i thot about this sum of money, the thought just popped into my mind like it was the most natural thing in the world - "it's for my marriage". whoah~

so my colleague heard wat i said about having "lao po ben" and she commented: "wah, looks like you got everything ready to get married ah?" my response - again, it just came out without thinking - "yeah, all that i'm missing now is a wife!" haha

ah.. girls and relationships.. but that's another whole can of worms which i won't open today lah. another day, perhaps.

* * *

did i ever mentioned that i have weird parents? my mom just showed me proof of that again today.

since i got my bonus today together with my salary, i thought it's oni right that i give more for household allowance this month. actually i was thinking of giving only slightly a bit more, then i give my parents an ang pow each. but my colleagues (of the same generation as me) all thought that it was weird to do so, and we collectively agreed that it was best to just give more for household allowance.

so i withdrew the cash and gave it to my mom as she sat down at the dinner table to watch me eat as usual. told her that since i got bonus, i'm giving them more this month since it's the New Year and all. she didn't say anything at first, watched me eat a bit. then she picked up the money that was on the table, counted it and announced "this amount $x give to your dad for him to put in ang pow.." then she took the money, got up and went to place the money in his drawer.

she came back with a big ang pow packet. then she counted out another bunch of notes, stuffed it inside the red packet, places it on the table... and pushes it to me - and that's my ang pow for the year from her. -_-"

first of all: mom, i'm already working. it's ok.. you dun have to give me an ang pow. but i suck at this type of arguments and never win, so i just accepted it silently.

secondly: that bunch of notes that you just put into the red packet? i just drew that for you. dun you think it's weird to like take the money that i just gave you, put it in a red packet and give it right back to me? at least do it inconspiciously behind my back or something lah, not in front of me in my face.. sigh..

actually, i was quietly wondering if she would still give me an ang pow this year, and now i know. if i knew, i would have given them more money in the first place since i'm getting a 'rebate'.. haha. guess i'll just make it up to them somehow by buying more stuff for them to eat lah.