mini re-branding

Presentation just one week away. Exhibition just two weeks away. Finals just three weeks away. Internship just one month away. Dissertation just four months away. And hitting 50 kg soon. Hmm. My attention is needed. I need to get back to earth and stop swimming in the sea of worries and depression and hormonal imbalance. I have recently, over a bar of chocolate of course, decided to f.it. Let's not worry about everything that has past its one-hour-grace-worry-period and just get going on the current things. Even G2000 has re-branded their stores... There are pink, blue and black labels now. erm... OK, not relevant. I just need to go shopping sometime this decade.

I was spending some time browsing through this month's Cleo magazine and that was when I realize that it has started. Since when did I have time to read magazines? F.it. I need to chill first before I can come up with bright ideas, right? Anyways, have you seen the 50 Most Eligible Bachelors? Some of them are from the 8TV show 'What Women Want'. Why doesn't Charles look as cute as he was on-screen? I only have one hour to worry about this nowadays.

I have also spent some time looking through all recent photos in my pc (which is not much since I had my pc reformatted a few times in the past 6 months or so), and plucked out photos in which I felt happy. It felt better than chocolates.


One day I'm going to dig out all the older photos stuck in cds in which I felt happy and form a big big collage and use it as my header or background. Erm, hehe... when I find out how to do it, that is.

Also, I have started eating chocolates at a normal Yvonne-rate again. Have I told you I love to eat chocolates? Due to the recent series of feeling like flubber (badminton? what badminton?), I cut down on chocolates. Now that I have decided to f.it, I feel much better.

A small feature on chocolates:
Once a long time ago, while I was munching on some chocolates, I asked Jiawei, "Dude, what does Yvonne like to do best?"
Jiawei looked up from whatever he was doing and said, "Buying shoes?"
I was, well, appalled. Hmmm. (Refer article "Do Guys Pay Attention?" in older issues of Cleo)


The next day, I randomly picked a classmate and asked the same question. "Vicki, what does Yvonne like to do best?"
Vicki looked up from the table on which she was resting her head and said confidently, "Eating chocolates."
"See? That's correct! My boyfriend said buying shoes!"
Vicki answered, "That one... true also."


Anyways, back to f.it. I know it is inappropriate but it is still better than the likes of "whatever" or "I don't care". At least you have done some critical thinking on the sujet du jour and when the solution seems to be risky, you say it and then you do it. I once told my stressed-up classmate and ex-class representative, David H, who worries more than three Yvonnes combined, to just say it. Let it out! Tell people off or something! Be free! He looked at me worried and said, "Yvoooonnnne..." OK, OK, very uncalled for. A while later I heard from a secret source he actually told people something like he needs his space too. David, if you are reading this, good for you!

Question no more! Focus on the Now! Work Your Way to a Stress-free New You! 50 Make Up Questions Answered! (er... in the meantime)

"When the going gets tough, the tough gets going."

Disclaimer: Anyways, do take care to make sure you have done your best and your most for the best of the situation before applying f.it. OK?

Positivity

-If we don't look like eager interns, who does?, 21 April 2007-

Yesterday Hajar and I went to KLCC for an all time, big time interview. Yup, the one I have been talking about. We do want this really badly. As in, BADLY. If we get this, we will jump around KLCC Park. If we don't, well on the brighter side, at least we have been there and left an impression. :D

So we decided to go to KLCC by LRT early in the morning. Hajar picked me up from my place and it was really sweet of her (thanks, hajar!) and we went to the nearest LRT station. Of course, we tried our best to look as formal as possible. As well groomed as possible. As well behaved as possible. As fresh faced as possible. As positive as possible. You know, all these need effort. We encouraged each other through msn, read through possible interview questions, prepared our folders, ironed our clothes, etc etc.

I've decided to wear my new suit. This suit was made by my mom. It looks like any other suits but with an open Mao collar. Just like one of those at G2000 and Padini. And it has only one layer so it is very airy and cooling. I know I will faint in the heat if I wore my usual jacket. I wore this new suit to Hilton two weeks ago and found out that I looked like their staff. -_-. No incidents until my friend Kelvin decided to lighten things up. "Can you please tell me a bit about this hotel?" "How should I know?" "You not working here meh?" Ish.

So I spent about 1/2 hour looking through everything in my little room for maybe a brooch, maybe a pin, a flower, a butterfly, whatever to make myself not look like a staff in case, God forbid, the uniform at MO has the same design. No such luck. College ID tag? No way. How come I never invested in a brooch? I'm sure they have some in designs catering to the younger crowd nowadays, right? hmm. I did find a "Visit Malaysia 2007" pin but it will probably make me look like I'm from the Sales and Marketing Department. Still better than Front Desk or Bell Boy. Then finally, I found this strip of inch-wide satin black ribbon and spent the next 15 minutes sewing it onto my jacket. Haha! Instantly less staff-like. Now, I probably read College Student. Or Not A Staff so Don't Approach Me. I was ready. To bed it is!

I woke up in the morning feeling like I have not slept at all because I didn't. I kept hearing little noises in the night and getting paranoid because there has been break-in cases lately at my area. It is always after you realize you need to wake up that you feel like you can really go to sleep.

The staff at MO were superbly professional and helpful. I think we felt pretty important even. This is the magic you get from a hotel (An upper 5-star one at that). This is where you see the results of every effort done to make sure everything falls into place in a flow. This is why I'm here. :). My chosen topic was Job Satisfaction and its relation to Job Performance. I'm assuming that the employees here are definitely satisfied. Everything went well but of course, when we talk about MO, it is never a possibility but a tiny little nanopixel of chance. We are still positive!

Later on, full from lunch at Manhattan's Fish Market (I later found out that Hajar actually wanted to eat at Burger King. So did I.) , Hajar dropped me off at my place. As I walked in past the security hut, I was still wondering if we will get any of the hotels we applied to when I heard the guard yelling,"Moi, lain kali turun depan sikit! Orang lain tak boleh masuk!" Referring to my friend blocking ONE very unimportant car from entering for about 10 SECONDS. No, 5 SECONDS. With NO traffic behind it. I just gave him an OK sign with a glance that says, "I'll make sure I have something to complain about you next time" and continued walking. This is where the magic does not exist. This is where everybody just want to get everything over and done with. This is what people escape to hotels and resorts for. This is why I'm here. :)

Grow, plant, grow!

2 weeks ago, Ivan, who just came back from a trip to Bangkok (aaaand Singapore, lucky b******:), gave me this as a souvenir. A shot glass, some seeds and a pill. ERM...

"It is a plant!"
"Oh really? Will it look like wheatgrass?"
"I think so"
"No, actually it is quite ugly..."
"How do you know?"
"He gave me one earlier and I planted mine already"
"Oh, what does it look like then?"
"Dunno.. some leaves."


First Step:

Put the pill into the shot glass with some clean water.

















Second Step:

Watch it grow into nutritious jelly (Don't eat it)

*It took about 5 minutes to expand into this but Hajar's one took 4 hours because she didn't remove the contents from the capsules... hehe! We just realized.












Third Step:

Place the seeds on top of the nutritious jelly. Voila, your plant is on its way to life!

















Two days later:

"Is that a sprout? It is! Take photo!!!"

*Of course the roots came first but who cares, right?







"Two sprouts! Yay!"














A few days later:

"Whoa... I wonder how tall you guys are going to be."










"Come on! Achieving Forest Status soon!"














A few days later:

Erm, this is about as tall as they get. (Notice the champion sprout, the tallest one)
















In fact, a few days later, I realized that the plant was in a Decline Stage. So I discussed with my fellow recipient of this cute plant thing on msn.

Yvonne: I'm blogging about my little plant... hehe!
Hajar: Ohhh..
Yvonne: It is at a stage where it is going to die already...
Hajar: Haih, my plant mati already.
Yvonne: Hahahahha! Why ya?
Hajar: Wakakaka
Yvonne: They just grow for a while and then die. Are we supposed to eat them?
Hajar: Noooo... please don't!


Anyways, I saw some spores growing on the jelly and I immediately decided to say sorry to the plants and removed it from my room. Now they are struggling for a few more days of survival in front of the tv. I wish you all the best, little plants in the shot glass! :D

A Turmoil

little miss bliss. I'm getting a little embarassed with this blog name. Maybe I should change it to miss bliss instead? I'm not too little anymore. Why bliss? Is there really so much to be happy and cheerful about? Why am I questioning this? I thought the theme is miss bliss because I wanted to focus on seeing the lighter and brighter side of things. Because we are supposed to be happy when we are young in order to have a happy lifetime (based on some research in some newspaper I read some time ago). Where is this bliss? On the label of my bottle of yoghurt drink. Seriously, I have not been able to type a single word the last few days because I didn't have a chance to look on the brighter and lighter side. What's so bright and light about food poisoning and diarrhea? (hmmm, at least I think I have less toxin in my body now). Maybe it is the reason to skip school for one day and take charcoal pills. Is my body calling out to me to take a rest? "Eh, woman, chillax wei". How do I relax and chill out when everything is in "pending" mode. The interviews. The exhibitors. The assignments awaiting my attempt. The finals. The French exams. The laundry. The research. The thesis. The news. The library book. The beach holiday(Oh, the beach holiday. God bless the beach holiday for it will be pending until at least end of this year). I hate waiting. I don't like to wait for things and I don't like things to wait for me. But it is happening and it cannot be avoided. Welcome to the life of a final-year student. Is it really so welcoming? I would be put off actually. But maybe it is an invitation for you to take a peek. It is quite nice to read about some other people's sufferings because then you wouldn't think you are alone in your miseries. Why am I assuming that everybody has misery? Am I really suffering? Why do I think that maybe I have been doing things in a wrong way all these while? Why do I think that every one of you reading this owes me an answer? What's wrong with me? Why am I turning cynical? Aren't I supposed to be optimistic (miss bliss, ma)? Why am I questioning? Am I not sure of myself? Not my usual self? No more clear objectives? Why do I feel like puking?

5 minutes later (after hugging ah pooh and a glass of Dutch Lady Low Fat Milk)

Ah. Finally got all those thoughts off my chest. Is this what we call mindless rant? It feels quite good sometimes. But I'm still giving serious thought into taking out 'little' from little miss bliss. I thought maybe I wouldn't post this after all. But I also thought why waste my typing effort!! Anyways, a clearer picture for you:


1) I didn't get the two hotels that I really wanted. (No space)
2) My period is due around the next few days. (No wonder (la))
3) I'm going for an all time big time interview this Saturday. And I'm nervous. (No joke)
4) I'm hungry. (No, seriously)

Featured!

Yet again... hahahaha!

-Starmag, 15 April 2007*-

Hajar decided to submit this photo of the three of us (plus Ivan and San Mei) jumping in Paris and she got published!

First thought: OMG, I look so silly...-_-
But then...: I don't really care! 8)

*scanned picture has been edited for your spotting convenience. :)

Ring, Ring!

-I thought I was a cam-whore until I met these people-

With only 4 booths sold and 20 more to go, things got a bit desperate with my Sales Team under Exhibitor Section. We turned my place into their office to call each and every one of those companies we have faxed our invitation to. We have Devy, Meriana and Isabella from Indonesia and Alex from Korea. We have nominated Alex to do the calls if the contact person was an "Aunty" and Meriana to call the "Uncles".

First Call

Alex: OK. Which company? This one? OK. Slowly. [1 8 0 0 8 7 3 5 3 5]
iTalk: Welcome to iTalk. Untuk Bahasa Melayu, tekan satu. For English, press two. Hua yu, ching an san-
Alex: Huh, what is teck-kan? two?! huayu?! *quickly hang up*
The Rest Of Us: Apa jadi? Apa laaaaa...
Alex: I don't know! I didn't know!
TROU: Again, again!

Alex: OK. [1 8 0 0 8 7 3 5 3 5]
iTalk: Welcome to iTalk. Untuk Bahasa Melayu, tekan satu. For English, press two.
Alex: [2]
iTalk: Please enter card serial number.
Alex: The number... The number! Where?
TROU: What number?
Alex: The serial number!
TROU: Eh, belum scratch!
Alex: *quickly hangs up* Aish.What is this!?

Alex: *deep breath* [1 8 0 0 8 7 3 5 3 5]
iTalk: Welcome to iTalk. Untuk Bahasa Melayu, tekan satu. For English, press two.
Alex: [2]
iTalk: Please enter card serial number.
Alex: [9 3 7 2 5 4 0 9 4 5 9 7] Ah..
iTalk: Please enter destination number.
Alex: *scan the whole document* The number? Telephone number where?!
TROU: Eh, mana dia! Not behind meh?
Alex: This is fax number!
Alex: *quickly hangs up* What do you want from me now?! Aish. Where is the list?
Me: I don't have the list.
Meriana: I didn't bring mine.
Alex: This means I have to go home to bring mine? Aish!
TROU: *looks innocently on the floor/ceiling*

So, now we are quite clear of the situation. Our attitude towards the potential exhibitors have changed too!

Comparison of 2-4 weeks ago and Now

Then: "50 booths only?"
Now: "Wei, how to sell 20?"

Then: "Ms. Lisa(lecturer), we have already chosen 26 potential companies. Yes, only the big companies like Unilever, Yeo's... The others, we haven't even heard of! Better not invite too many companies. We only have 20 booths to sell!"
Now: "Hello? Good afternoon! Is this Tuffin Muffin?/Ah Seng Biscuit?/Kekawan Food?*"
*Names have been changed to protect the identities of the companies.

Then: "With your booth, we only provide two tables and chairs. If you need extension wire, please let us know earlier. Partitions.. well, we have but it is limited so we prefer if you confirm earlier.
Now: "With your booth, we provide two tables and chairs. If you need extension wire, don't hesitate to let us know! We also have plants. What? No manpower? No problem, sir. We can help you man your booth. What? You want to do demonstration also? Can, we can help you hold a demonstration. Huh? Freezer and chiller? We can help you store your things in the our college's Kitchen and Bar chiller. We also have a microwave oven.

Then: "Not interested? It is not a problem. Thank you very much." *shrug shoulders*
Now: "Not interested? May I know what is the reason? No manpower? Oh, I can ask my friends to help you exhibit. You just buy the booth and we do everything for you! Still not interested? What about if you sponsor some products? Not free? Person-in-charge not in? Hold on? *line cut off, sweat drop from forehead*

Also, there were some companies with which we didn't even get a conversation.

[1 8 0 0 8 7 3 5 3 5]
[2]
[9 3 7 2 5 4 0 9 4 5 9 7]
[xxyy zzaa]

Automatic operator: Hello, thank you for calling. For HQ, press 1, for Sales, press 2, for HR, press 3, for blah, press 4..... for blah, press 9

Pressed [2]

*After 15 rings*
Hello?
Hello, good afternoon! I'm calling from Taylor's College. I would like to-
Hold on.
*Transfered*
Hello, good afternoon! I'm calling from Taylor's College. We are having an exhibition themed... I would like to speak to your Sales Department please.
Hold on.
*Transfered*
Hello, good afternoon! I'm calling from Taylor's College. We are having an exhibition-
When?
11 May. It will be held at-
Hold on. I'll pass you to Sales Department.
*Transfered*
Hello? Is this the Sales Department?
Yes.
Ah, yes. I'm calling from Taylor's College. We are blah blah blah...
Oh, this is the wrong department for you. I'll pass you to Groceries Dept.
Huh?!
*Transfered*
ring, ring, ring.... ring........ ring x 20
*Hang up*
"cis!"

-_-

A Poem

Post-holiday Spirit

Today, a schooling day after a two weeks break...

The alarm on my phone rings. I am still using Only One by Yellow Card(because I'm not so into fiddling with the functions on my phone anymore). Usually, I'll wake up to its dizzying intro and turn it off before the guy starts to sing. If the singer starts to sing, it means I'm having difficulties waking up. Today I didn't face any difficulties waking up because I was facing difficulties getting to sleep. My daily routine has gone haywire.

My, it is a terribly hot day! I haven't even left the house! Is this the start of the hot and dry season that everyone has been warning me about? Maybe I should start buying huge pails to store water with. Maybe you should too. I cannot imagine a day when I don't have water to bathe with (I love to bathe!). I think it will be the day I finally snap and go berserk.

Anyways, with a heavy heart and an aching body (from waking up early), I walked to college. You can tell that nobody wanted to be in the classroom this morning with most of us looking quite dead. The first two classes were actually quite interesting but I found myself staring at my Cactus Mineral Water bottle when I'm not taking down notes. Basically, I was stoning most of the time today.

Ah, lunch time! Maybe this will make my day more interesting? Ivan, who conveniently skipped the first two classes has decided to save Hajar, LiYin and I from the restaurants in college. We went to Vicchuda in Uptown for some Tomyum. Yum!

One of the more interesting details of the day was that I, Yvonne Lee, has finally started to like some clothes which were not Black, White or Black and White. Or the occasional plain blue, plain green, plain pink, plain red, plain, plain, plain, just plain.

In fact, the tee that I wore today had a grand total of 3 colours on them! Blue, Orange and Yellow! How fresh. Also, there were flowers, dragonflies and butterflies and doves and clouds and stars. I have never worn anything as cheery as this before. Good investment, I must say. A good start to a more colourful wardrobe? Maybe. But I can assure you that I'm not trying the Goth look with all my blacks and whites.

When I broke the news to Liyin and Ivan, they did a 'Thank God' look and congratulated me. Hajar was wondering why everyone seemed to realize that I have been wearing black and white all the time. "Where was I when all these happened?" she asked. "Maybe you were having your period at that time, Hajar," came the reply.


Anyways, if there was a tired person, that person was Hajar. She was very tired. In fact, when we got back to college, she has decided to sleep through the 3rd lesson. The rest of us, charged on Tomyum could still hang on at the back of the class.

During break time, I was chatting with Alex of Korea about his plans for internship and all that. Then came the topic of actually looking for a job here and settling down with his girlfriend and stuff. We also realized that the easiest way to get a PR is to marry a Malaysian. "Marry your girlfriend lah!" I said like it was as easy as pie. We then thought of the possibilities.

Liyin came back from the ladies and as she was taking her seat...

Alex: Hi! Wanna get married??
Liyin: Huh!
Me: He wants to marry you to get a PR!
Liyin: Oh... see la, see la..

And the lecture continues...

Lecturer: blah blah....something like an extrovert and an introvert.... Do you guys know what is an extrovert and an introvert? An extrovert is.... blah blah... for me, I'm an introvert in general but when I come to class, no choice..... etc etc etc...

Then, I decided to announce to my friends that I think I am an introvert.

"I think I'm an introvert!" I announced with an unusual burst of energy.
"I have a cuckoo bird!" exclaimed Ivan in immediate reply.
*blank for a moment*
*Ivan laughed at his sudden revelation*
"But that's not relevant!"

I do blame the heat.

Anyways, I decided that maybe I wasn't an introvert. If there was a word to describe me, what would it be? So I decided to ask Ivan, Liyin and Hajar.

Ivan: Chirpy
Liyin: I don't know...
Hajar: Extrovert (she said while trying to keep her eyes open)
Yvonne: You're not thinking, Hajar! You're just plucking words from Mr.Elan!

With that I decided that one day I shall conduct a survey on all my friends and ask them to describe me in one word. Just for fun! Of course, when I actually have the time to... :(

Wow, what a lot of things I have decided on today!

Class ended a bit early when the lecturer realize that his attempt to fully utilize his two hours was futile. I walked home under the blazing sun.

One final decision: I'm going to bring my Huge-by-Yvonne's-Standards giordano umbrella to school starting tomorrow.

as fit as a fiddle!

I was once again planning to lament and blabber about how I'm so busy and stressed and so on when I realized that it would defeat the theme of this blog. Therefore, I'm going to show you a very positive update in my life. I, my dear friends, have begun to take my health seriously. Yes, the neglected one since 2003 (after leaving the comfort of home and ever green nutritious food). I shall start from my fitness point of view because I know I will never eat right while still in college.

Just an introduction to my health or fitness situation:

-my fitness chart-

As you can see, there were dramatic drops at age 12, 15 and 18. I blame the 3 major exams which are UPSR, PMR and SPM. I did try to make up to my health by taking Brand's Essence of Chicken during these dreadful times but the level continued to drop and especially so when in college. It dropped from ZERO to PIG in within 2 years. I knew I had to do something before something happens to me (OMG, I'm Still ALive?).

Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, I have decided to exercise. Last Thursday, Jiawei and I decided to play Badminton. The game that I used to play as a small kid when my fitness level was at All Time High! (I was pretty good then:). I later attempted to play badminton again in high school when my fitness level was at Improvements Needed and I decided to quit to save myself from embarassing myself and my dad (who used to coach people).

This time, I don't really care. I need to sweat! So I brought my Carlton racquet and Jiawei's Yonex racquet (England vs. Japan?) from Kluang on my way back last week. I forgot to bring some of the dozens and dozens of shuttles kept in my storeroom so we had to buy some shuttles which were of poor quality and high price and no brand. I never knew that these things actually cost money.

-RM3.33 each!-

Dad will be very proud of his shuttles from yesteryear. So, tools, checked. We were ready.

-A photo before I sweat, of course-

-Jw complete with towel and wrist band-

How did it go? We played for about an hour. Well, maybe less. The problem lies in the fact that I didn't sweat as much as I wanted to. Even when Jiawei tries to make me run for the shuttle cock. Has my body forgotten what it was like to exercise and sweat? Hmm.. To make up for that, I even ran around the court 4 times before we left. But to no avail. Nevermind. SlooOOoooOowly does it. I have decided to make it a weekly thing. *Nod.*

And as a result of this exercise debut, as you can see from my fitness chart, I have graduated from Pig! to Terrible. Wheeeeeee! :D