Thursday, June 19, 2008

Party Over

When I was an undergraduate, I ate chap fun (economic rice) everyday, and rode a motorcycle to the campus. I didn’t own a car until after I started to work.

After working for a number of years, I decided to take up MBA. I discovered that many of my younger classmates were full-time students with little or no working experience. All of them drove to the university.

We were required to study between two and five subjects every semester. As a working adult, I could only cope with two at any time. Many of the full-time students took three subjects, but they somehow believed that they had a harder life than me. One of them asked me, “You take two subjects only ah!??” Another said, “You take two subjects only, must be very easy lah…”

“These kids are lucky.” I thought. They grew up in the age of abundance. They did not need to worry about earning money. Well, that’s until June 4, 2008.

On this historic day, June 5, 2008, Malaysian government raised the gasoline price by more than 40%, and the diesel price by more than 60%. The age of abundance has come to an abrupt end. We now enter the age of high inflation.

My younger classmates – if they do not wish to burden their parents – should start to look for a job. Or, if they are not ready to enter the real world, then at least they should complete the study fast. Party time is over!

17 comments:

  1. indeed, kids of today are alot more fortunate and they often take things for granted

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  2. I'm always proud of the fact that I have started supporting myself at the age of 18, tecahing massive home tuitions while studying for a degree.

    Kids these days, many take things for granted.

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  3. xin
    Let's see if they will "change their lifestyles"...

    迷迭香
    Not so fast kua...
    BTW, you have been to JayaOne right? Many UTAR kids eat there. The food isn't so cheap le...

    shingo
    I think Singapore's kids are worse. My sister leaves the household chores to the Filipino maid, so her children need not do anything. Fortunately, the younger nephew is born with DIY-spirit.

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  4. hoho~ i wan to leave comment le~ ^^ cuz i understand tis page~^^
    yes~agree wif u~! the kid didnt know the happiness is around to them~
    a bit matter always complaint tis complaint tat! hate the attitude!

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  5. Not to mention secondary school students all carry handphones these days. Correct? Last time, undergraduates didn't have handphones too!

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  6. anne
    Huh!?? You mean you don't understand my other pages???

    neo
    Speaking of handphones...
    Before I had my first handphone, I had to make call from public phone. I would find that the phone was out of order, so I proceed to the other phone booth, which was 50 meter away. Then I found the second phone booth was vandalized...

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  7. Kids today are lucky but most of the them take things for granted.. And most of them buy expensive branded stuff and simply spend their parents' hard-earned money.

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  8. Well, they won't feel the pinch if the parents still continue to support them...

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  9. 我同意你说派对时代已经过了。小孩生在太平盛世,丰衣足食。这群小孩长大后,社会于是趋向草莓族时代。

    那在高通膨时代成长的孩子,又会令二十年后的社会变成怎样呢?

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  10. 现在的年青人经不起挫折,被宠坏。

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  11. agreee... that's why i'm utilising my blog to do PPP also... it's not like I'm commercialising it, but in this everywhere-price-hike world, hv to earn some dollars for goodness sake.

    btw, i've replied to ur comment on jews in my blog.

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  12. chen
    Thanks for dropping by :-)

    kai
    I worry it is difficult for their parents to say no, after pampering them for so many years.

    sinji
    Sorry la... 我中文不行,什么是草莓族?

    christine
    I hope they can change lor...

    kyh
    It sounds like I need to support you ;-)

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  13. I think it still depends on the point of view of the person.

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  14. Refer to wikipedia,

    光鮮亮麗、甜中帶酸的生澀、在溫室中長大及一捏就破的特性,以草莓族來稱呼1981年後出生的世代(有時也包含1981年前數年出生的世代)。

    [当然在這個世代中也不乏有能力且有好表現之人]

    台灣社會對於草莓族的普遍刻板印象包括:

    抗壓性低(承受催逼、壓力的能力低)
    受挫性低(承受挫折、打擊的能力低)
    穩定度低
    學歷高但操作能力差
    重視外表、物質與享樂
    個人權益優先於群體權益
    也有人以“布丁族”或“豆腐族”來揶揄缺點(特別是抗壓性)比草莓族還嚴重的人。

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  15. =P cuz my english is poor~~ not much understand de!!>.< tats y i scare to leave comment to u...>.<

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  16. anne
    My Chinese also poor, but I still leave comments on Chinese blogs :-)

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