OH PH

>Oh yes! Tomorrow is Hari Raya! *doing the invisible stiring kuih dodol dance*
>You celebrate meh?
>No.
>So happy for what?
>I don't care man. As long as it is a PH, I'm happy!... Man! I can't spend!!!


aiYa!

So, tomorrow, for the first time in a long time, I'm going to spend my public holiday in a money concious manner. Usually, I throw money conciousness to the wind when I'm on holiday or off days. I mean, once in a blue moon, ok! If I suddenly want to buy a pink container which I don't need, so be it! If I suddenly want to buy pink blade, so be it! This is a testing moment in my life. Will I make it? Haha.. I'm just dramatizing this whole October Vow thing. Seems ridiculous but I think I wanna make it happen. Hopefully after this one month of self inflicted training, I will somehow turn to become a natural money concious person responsible and accountable for every penny I spend. I think I just need to avoid a few places such as Topshop, Vincci and Sushi Zanmai. I know, I'm so predictable, right?

Maybe I should make it a point to avoid McDonalds as well, seeing the very regular intake of their calorie laden and saturated fat contents. Suka-suka eat fries. Suka-suka eat chilli fries. Suka-suka waiting for train, eat choc sundae. Suka-suka don't wanna eat normal lunch, order McDelivery.

But that's another McMatter. I think I should just spend this wonderfully blessed two days sunbathing by the pool or watching dramas in my room or doing some reflexology at the rock garden. *yawn*.. I mean, wow! Can't wait. ;D

a vow for the month of October

*warning: this post might have a slight hint of BF (bitch fit)

Today, before I really thought it through, I told my colleagues that I vow not to spend unnecessarily for the whole month of October and I raised quite a few eyebrows and got quite a few "wow"s and turned quite a few heads.

Well, actually, everyone I told that to did the same reaction - turn to face me, raise eyebrows, said wow.


I just spent a lot of money colouring my hair and the result is No Diff because the previous red was too OTT so the normal blah brown (even in two coordinating Mahogany Schmany shades) just did not cut it and so the red still rules. It is as if I just sat there for 2.5 hours for nothing! Uh! So hurt!


So, I shall spend wisely to cover for this terrible mistake of an investment. Well, no biggie but just wanted to put it down in writing (literally) so that I will adhere to it. nod.

I just have to figure out what to do with my 20% discount voucher from Topshop which expires on 1 Oct 2008. hmmm.... this requires some meditation.


Anyways, I got a new toy!

Something that I have been looking for - really slim! and I love sony ericsson phones so I'm a happy camper for now! :)

mini me

Look what I found!

One of the hundreds of childhood photos of me and my sisters. And I always wondered where my love of photos came from... haha... mystery solved.

First timer - KTMB Sleeper Berth!

In a bid not to fight with thousands of people in the balik kampung spirit next week, I have decided to just spend a long weekend back home and chill in KL during Raya. So yesterday after work, I took the night train back! And I purposely chose the night train because I have always wanted to try the sleeper berths! Looks so interesting. Looks so fun. Looks like an experience.


I walked past a few coaches and saw a few people setting up their laptops and some having chats with their friends/family who have bought berths right opposite each other. This should be fun, I thought.


Anyways, first look:

My first thought was, "wow... like little cells..."

My little berth!:
Always always make sure you request for window seats (when purchasing seats) and make sure to request for lower berths(when purchasin berths) because I think it is a secret plot of the counter staff to make you suffer the aisle seat/upper berth if you don't specifically ask for otherwise.


Anyways, I brought along 2 books because I thought that it would be the best time for me to catch up on those books which I started but never finished!!

But how to read when there is not light? There is this very old, well-intentioned and well positioned reading lamp which doesn't work. It is just placed there so that people will remember that this old train once had people reading in its berths.

Look at the switch! So classic right? (with a dash of sarcasm)


See? Those with upper berths have to climb on this cold steel stairs. Very inviting.


On another matter, on my way into the train, KTMB staff gave me a Raya Goodie Bag. Whoa. Seriously. The drink and ang pow I can understand but one whole box of kuih raya?! Hmm... fishy...
Reminds me of this article in The Star which I read and HAD to laugh out loud. KTMB employees cooked porridge for passengers. I think after that Prime Minister took the KTM Commuter incident, they sort of felt the need to buck up. After, I repeat. After.

And right after I happily (free stuff, always happy) took my goodie bag, a buncha students from a local university decided to hand out survey forms to me to fill in. Some of the questions (to rate between strongly agree to strongly disagree) include:

1) KTMB staff are
a) Friendly
b) Courteous
c) Knowledgeable
d) Helpful

I mean, yesterday they were pretty much friendly, courteous etc... but please. I may not have the best memory around but kuih raya and a pack of soya bean milk will not help me to forget the times when I was not given good service!!!

And don't even get me started on the toilets! Because one of the questions asked about the cleanliness of the toilet. Very brave, no? Brownie points for confidence! :D


Anyways, let's focus on the berths,
So it was a pretty pleasant experience. The bed was not so bad. The sheets were clean. There were enough space. Though a person taller than 6 feet will want to consider the first class berths. My feet were almost touching the wall. I couldn't really kick around. Anyways, I didn't want to move too much because it was cold! They didn't include a blankey... only the extra sheet on top. So I had to pull the curtains to stop the cold air from reaching me but that would leave me in the dark so I couldn't read my books.

So I went to sleep.

The whole train was pretty silent when everyone has gone to sleep.


Don't worry. The KTM staff will go around and wake people up when they have arrived at their station. I had to resist my usual grouch and whine when woken up unexpectedly (especially by mom). At least they make sure you don't miss your stop. Good ya? OK, have to give some points here.

Milky way

I love to drink milk. I drink a big glass of milk every night before I sleep. Those who know me better will even know that I sometimes do some mixology with my milk. 1/3 chocolate, 2/3 full cream. :D Yes, I'm that into my bedtime milk.


And then some unscrupulous, greedy, money minded beings decided to taint their milk products so they can dilute it and generate more profit, killing babies and making thousands of them ill with kidney stones. They didn't even have a chance to say "I got kidney stones because I didn't drink enough water". Aiyo!


Then the brand that I drink, Dutch Lady, decided to announce that they are clean. OK. Cool. No probs.


And then latest today, a new list of tainted products were published and everyone paid attention to the 8pm news. Those products include Dutch Lady's products! :(


M&Ms are not safe either. :( :(


Now I need to check for kidney stones. :( :( :(

Re-cap

Where are we going again?
It's a place called Jacobs...
Hmm. Feels like we're going to have biscuits! haha...
Eh! No! Not Jacobs! Jarrod's. Jarrod's. Jarrod's?
Jarrod & Rawlins la..
Oh. OK. Interesting...
Where's that!?
DUnno.. follow Jin later.


a bit the outdated la... just want to post it up.. :)




Man, I like birthdays...

say no more

I woke up this morning feeling really fine. Like many of my other fellow rakyat who didn't catch up on the 8pm news yesterday, we woke up feeling like, woohoo, thank God it is a Saturday.


Little did I know that the country has fallen into really deep shit. I mean, it has been messy and it has been crazy and unbelievable (read the news in today's newspaper and found myself shaking my head) but NOW, it is really hopeless.


So editors and reporters are being detained for doing their job these days - reporting.
Did they miss out the guy who sweeps the drain for sweeping the drain?


So if I know of someone doing/saying something which is bad/harmful/unlawful, I'm not supposed to report it to do my part to keep this person from doing more harm?


Because my understanding now is if I were to tell, I will be the one punished. The person who did the shit will just chill. Wow. Why do the cops even encourage people to report crimes?


I used to think, omg, when will this childish political shit end. Soon enough. Let's not get too upset. NOW I think it will never ever end and will never get better. Warning: We are so moving backwards. Pretty soon, don't be surprised if you read about passing laws for stoning law offenders.

Maybe they will stone the reporters?


I'm so disappointed. I have always loved this country and have always defended her and the supposed leaders, saying things will be better. But all her beauty, her wonderful people and her promising future is crumbling just because of a few people doing things for their own political/selfish/special agenda. Seriously, we deserve better than this. The country deserves better.


We deserve better.

sporty update!

I've just decided that maybe rhyming is not really my forte. I suddenly had a vision of Phoebe in Friends strumming her guitar and singing her hearts out while her friends smile/squirm in support.

But then again, if she's having a great time, what's the harm right?


Ooh! I'm so proud of myself! I played badminton again yesterday! Roar. My thighs hurt so much because of the whole LinDan-ChongWei inspired game (Run for it! Reach for it!). My colleague Edwin even got butt cramps. But I like this kind of muscle pain. It makes you feel fresh and you get to sleep really really well after. The pain that I don't like is the waking up early on a Saturday morning to go to work until 5.30pm kind. This is true.

The perennial rain did not dampen any of our spirits. Some traveled all the way from KL and have to go all the way back. Some ran in the rain from the LRT station. My colleague Wolter was the most hyped up one. He bought a new and expensive racquet and a big-ass racquet bag and even wore a sleeveless yellow jersey with red shorts ("LinDan is my neighbour"). o_o

After the game, we all went for dinner and had a long gossipy chat and everyone kept on saying "oh the night is still young" and continued the gossips. I thought, you know, wow... working out is so much fun now! You get value added stuff like the latest news about who and who and the what, when, where. I was like, we should do this more often! I'm telling you, people in the Finance departments have the most stories. Haha. I would prefer to view this as networking. Sharing is caring. Being in the know of things. So enjoy la. It was very much later that I realized that I was the only one who was working the next day. The pain...

twenty three

omg,
I'm so twenty-three,
Say the candles on my Secret Recipe,
What happened to 19 and 20?
In denial? No, not me,
Young at heart I'll always be,
Though my choice of food is now sushi,
Day in, day out trying to be healthy,
Choosing water over Pepsi,
Choosing green tea over coffee,
Though coffee is oh-so-yummy,
Well, OK I take it, but, but only occasionally,
And the occasional KFC and McD,
And the chicken wings and lethal pan mee,
Btw, I'm on MC,
The medicine is making me drowsy (and rhymy),
Going to sleep like a baby,
Need to get well soon, seriously,
So I can look forward to the weekend to paaaarty!

PS:
To my dear colleagues at the office, thanks for party and the Radley!
To SL and Chris in Macau, thanks for the Mango D!
To Jenn and Elaine, thanks for the sushi!
To the rest of my darling friends, thanks! I'm now 23!
To Shobee, no probs dearie! (haha.)

Cake complete with girl-girl holding tiny handbag.

@ the office with some new faces

Sushi night out with lotsa gossips. haha...

a grocery shopping trip

I'm so proud of myself for a whole full minute today. I actually used those reuseable shopping bags to carry my groceries! I looked around, trying to inspire the aunties and uncles as I purposefully fill my stuff into my shopper bag. I have always told myself I need to start doing it but never did remember to bring the shopper bags. Bring a bag today! YOU can make a difference.

Honestly speaking, it is much more comfortable to carry the load with a shopper bag. Plastic bags are so yesterday, no? haha.


Anyways, I took a cab today. There are days when you get crappy taxi drivers (most days actually), there are days when you get indifferent taxi drivers and then there are days you get interesting taxi driver. I mean, I got into a cab with a very old uncle driver without teeth in an even older cab and ended up crashing into a curb. Omg. I know. Today, I got an interesting driver who grooved to The Best of BeeGees. I think.

From Tragedy to To Love Somebody, the chinese uncle, whom I initially thought was fidgety, was actually totally enjoying himself silently singing the BeeGee's hits. I was like, wow. Then I thought maybe he was listening to Light FM but then upon curious inspection, he actually had a CD player (wah) and this was definitely one of those No. 1 hits compilation CD of some sort.

Later on, he remembered he had a passenger, moi, and proceeded to ask which route is the shortest. I said, "I dunno". Then he asked, "Huh! You dunno how to go home one?!" and laughed and shook his head. -_- I mean, just drive la. At the same time, can pay attention on the road?

Anyways, in the final 5 minutes in his cabby, I also found out that he likes Batman and had an unidentified action figurine, complete with the batmobil. Totally eccentric. Anyways, he was so into his songs he missed a turn. I was like, "Uncle, here I know. Must turn!". Hah!