My mother's mother's mother ran a coffee shop in Pontian in 1920s. My mother's mother's father had a book shop in JB back in 1910 and a shop in Pontian selling cloth. He goes back and forth Indonesia buying and exchanging goods - import export business on a small scale. These disappeared during WW2
So my great grandfather had two jobs? Or was it diversification?
All these are but scant memories for my mother. Was she there at that time? Or was it "stories" from her mother?
During WW2 my dad, just twelve years old, taps rubber in the morning and ran a tiny grocery stall in the afternoon belonging to his mother. He rides his bicycle to Air Hitam load it up coconuts and then pedals his "rubberless tyre" to Sarang Buaya to exchange for rice which he sells from his shop.
My mother's father had a small shop making and selling "songkok" back in the 60s. I can vouch for this since I was there to witness him and my uncles sewing these "songkoks" at home and in the shops. Of course most of my kindreds' "songkok" were "tailored" to fit our lumpy heads, so says he eons ago. But this is a single source income!
My father's only brother teaches in the morning and tends to his rubber small holdings in the afternoons. Like some of my other uncles from my mother's side, majority of whom are educators, they too tap rubber before or after school hours.
Most, if not all, are now collecting their pensions. Their income from their rubber small holdings (now oil palm) outstrips the graduates' salary now.
My mother's eldest brother did many things...He works in the Forestry Department as a lorry driver. In the mornings he buys breakfast and sells them to his colleagues. When he goes home he packs his lorry with goods for his small shop in Kota Tinggi - carpets, books, ointment...
He is the richest of the lot. He owns more than 20 of those low cost houses he built as and when money was available which he then rents them, more than (some say) 20 acres of land and 3 shops. His legacy to his children? Own houses, lands...
My parents? They were school teachers in the mornings. In the afternoons they took on two "kelas dewasa" each. With the proceeds from both they amassed quite a bit.
Me? I had fixed employment. And to supplement these monthly (pitiful to me) income I took on others.
Photography was the easiest. Mostly over the weekends covering weddings. Not much as these were seasonal. I did earn "small change" when I took on Site Progress Photography until 2004.
Back when the Government embarked on BM for all subjects even at Tertiary Level, I translated or edited them for Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka and a handful for Institut Terjemahan Negara. Some were for companies. These were done manually then. Armed with dictionaries and MABIM's attempt at standardising terminologies for every field, I did these in mosques, parks, arcades, restaurants...during any available time I had.
Translating was easier than editing. My command of English was better than that of my own mother tongue - or so I believe. I think in English before I muttered in BM. So, it was much faster for me to translate.
Editing was a different ball game altogether. There were times, when I was unlucky enough to have had to edit works by literal translators! I ended up translating sentence after sentence much to the dismay of my supervisors. At times, it took me twice longer to finish the assignment.
Even today you may come across movies on Astro whose sub-titles are inaccurate. Some are literal translations, others got it all wrong. English is really peculiar isn't it? Innuendos, same phrases but different connotations in England and Australia...I can't stop reading the stupid sub-titles on the teley since only those with Astro can switch off the sub-titles. I curse a lot these days simply because of these silly literal translations.
In all the places I have worked in, I am the self-proclaimed walking, talking (some say too much) thesaurus!
Next came satay for a year at nights after my bungling attempt at being a contractor during the day. By then, there were not that many translation or editing works. Satay was, as some would have it, enough to supplement my bad habit of smoking.
Then came the computer. I was like a duck to water since I was using computers ever since Sinclair came out with Zilog80. MS Office made life easier for me.
It was easier to earn pocket money then. I was good, so I claimed, at Powerpoint, Scheduling, Database and 3D rendering and Walkthrough. Clients were friends of friends who worked in other companies. They commissioned me to prepare presentation files - without or with narration employing my gruff voice, hypertext links, hyperlinked files, buttons, 3D walk through movies... Rest assured I still possess these in CD and HD.
MS Project was my additional income earner. This and Artemis were the only two we had back in 97. Most big contractors were embarking on this new project management tool. MS Project was the easiest of the two to understand and to use. Later Primavera P3 took over the market since KLCC dictated the usage of the same for all their projects. So, I burnt midnight oil to prepare and sell the schedules.
dB4 was my starting point in 92 or so for database. I dropped that when MS Access started in 97 or so. At first, I used it for the company I was working for. Then, challenged by my junior and senior staff, I embarked on a Document Management System. It was crude at first. But eventually, after continuous development over a five year period it got better and better. I started "selling" them off as part of my package as an employee. Later, I packaged as part of my services as a consultant to some of these Contractors.
My clientele included - to name but a few - Sunway, Sri Pelagat, Towry Law, Taisei, Guthrie, AZSB...
These pocket money avenues stopped for a while when I last worked with a GLC in Johore.
All these were not enough. Will it ever be enough? I am never satisfied with what I have. Materialistic SOB aren't I?
One thing is for sure - I had my fair share of "fun" whilst it lasted. The midnight oil, sleepless nights, working holidays, clients who refuses to pay, clients who claimed that they could do better...
Nowadays...everyone is adept at all these. So, there goes supplemental income for me at least!
Perhaps my father was right after all! Nothing beats agriculture. These days, you can earn 100 per day for an hour tapping rubber! I earned 1K per day or 125 per hour in an airconditioned room harassed by my boss and juniors alike! If I tapped rubber, I will only have to contend with mosquitoes...which will shy away if I smoked a lot or use repellents.
I failed to amass the fortune which my dad or uncle made in the 60s.
I am not a millionaire. I will not have a pension. I do have debts though to last another 20 years. My wealth is in having a great family, and very, very few close friends - three to be exact - and the knowledge that I have which I will continue to share with those willing to...listen
Dedicated to my parents and uncle Amir
Composed and bashed on the berry whilst undergoing physioteraphy on 9th September 2011.
Sent by Maxis from my BlackBerry® smartphone
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