camerons : in touch with nature

Just about 2 weeks ago I went to Cameron Highlands! It was pretty much impromptu and I love impromptu trips! I love the whole Just Go spirit! So here we gooo... on a healthy diet and fresh air trip!

winding

winding...

oh the roads are so curvy... getting dizzy... my butt is moving from left to right... my head is swaying! help!

Luckily, everyone survived the whole ordeal. Some resorted to drugs but I just ate some pringles and went to sleep. Haha.. whatever works.


First stop: Strawberry farm!!

So cute!!!!!!!!

My first time seeing strawberries and I was very happy. Though it was pretty sunny and hot too.

"wtf. Why is it so hot?"

Being the youngest and first time in Cams, I asked the most questions.

"Why the strawberries so small one?"

because the big ones are protected in the other gated areas.. haha!

And then we went to Kea's Market!

They have sooo many stalls here selling fruits, flowers, corn, vegetables, mushrooms, strawberries strawberries strawberries.

Somehow those aunties keep on trying their selling pitch on my guy colleague and it works all the time..
"Come la leng chai! Buy la.. u buy 4, I give you cheaper!" ok la ok la..

then suddenly she pulls out this huge gigantic packet from the back of the store,

"ah, since you buying so much, why not buy this whole bunch!! cheap only..."


Suddenly, we have like 2 dozens of corn. Suddenly, we have like 20 bags of vege. Suddenly, the car is filled with flowers... oh boy..

Wah! Big eggplant!

Finally we checked in!
Bala's chalet.. do not be deceived by its name because it is actually very English..

Beautiful, quiet and gives us the Smokehouse experience without having to stop by the Smokehouse.


I want to own this place!!!
Our chalet which opens out to the courtyard with lots of chilling spots..There you have 5 hoteliers coming up with brilliant ideas to spruce up this place and market it.. damn I want this property.

Anyways, we decided to drive to the "atas" Equatorial for a look and yes, beautiful view...
but boring rooms...

Then we went to look at all those flower shops along the roads.. Here they sell everything in pots - flowers, chillies, cactus, strawberries...




Then we headed to the night market which is only available on Fridays and Saturdays...

Lotsa food on offer!Strawberry ice cream too!
But I still prefer Verry Verry Strawberry at BR.. :D

We had steamboat which was very regular but one thing great is the vegetables are free!!! just top up as much as you want.. it is freeeee!

We even had durians.. but too excited so no photos here.. haha..

At the night market, they sold everything that they offer such as fruits, flowers, vege and strawberries.. but also a lot of merchandise with strawberries on it. It is funny how Cams have strawberries as its icon. Even pyjamas bright orange pyjamas with strawberry prints! I told my friend that wearing that will totally spoil anyone's love life.

It rained in the evening (bummer) but the next morning, we woke up to a beautiful morning!!

Cold and misty... just the kind of temperature we need. Like, it was hot yesterday and we were like, wtf??

So cold! I like!!! See :D it's like I can imagine the scene in Twilight here up in the mountains...


And just the right setting to visit my favourite place of them all!!


The tea plantation!!
Chan!

That's where we're going to have breakfast!! coming up!!
On the way... hungry... but want to take photos like no tomorrow...

I'm sooo impressed with what I see here..
Beautiful architecture and design...

Loved the whole semi outdoor atmosphere and well taken care facilities...

We had breakfast right at the edge itself!

Partly due to my whining...

"Don't want to sit here! must sit outside!!!"

because it was full outside where the view is the best but lucky lucky... some uncles were leaving...
we had the obligatory scones with butter and jam.. delicious! and the tea was of course gold blend... and then there was a little squel from me "I want nasi lemak!!"

Eating nasi lemak here is so nice. It's cold and the sambal is hot.. can only be described as "shiok".

Beautiful! I want a weekend house here!!!
If only the roads are not so windy..

The whole Tea Centre is filled with history of Boh and it was artfully done..


And I find Mr Boh adorable! How come I never knew about him... hmm Comms not strong..
We also had a tour of the tea factory... oh.. cannot tahan the smell here... The strong tea smell as the leaves are crushed and rolled..
Finally, we left with a very satisfied tummy of scones and tea...

I'll miss you!

But not before stopping by Kea's Market for more strawberrys and vege shopping...

sappy

I woke up this morning and the first thing that came to mind was the last thing that was on my mind when I drifted into slumber... "I don't want to be old!!"

I'm in the midst of a long weekend (whoopah!) and what better to do than catch up on some reading... and I happen to catch up on some sappy romance stories.

Its time to take a break from those self enrichment crap that I have lying around within reaches. It is quite difficult to comprehend why we just like to be told what to do ya. Well, they are not crap. Crap don't cost that much. They are just materials that, erm, I grab when I'm too free/feeling bored/feeling uninspired/eating an apple? They seem to be part of the metal particles that make up the steps on a ladder - an enhancement to the steps, I suppose.

Anyways, I have just finished The Notebook - courtesy of my buddy at work. It is a pretty short story written by a guy who looks like a fitness instructor (Nicholas Sparks) with a hollywood smile but it has pretty intense sweet love in it. Like in loads of decades.

I finished this book in a day and this morning, I woke up thinking, I don't want to be old! Closer to the end, the lead characters are both old and suffering. One from Alzheimer's (which is the worse of all) and another from various thinghies that old people eventually suffer from. I don't want to imagine coming to that stage. But of course at the very end, there is actually a twinkling of a happy ending. And to still be so in love when you're that old and sick - just the recipe for one of the most touching stories around. It's like reading Twilight x2.

Except that in Twilight, they all remain beautiful and young. I feel horrible now. I feel bad for the leads in the story. I always stay affected for a few days. My friends do not get this. The girls probably will. I have to read something cheerful or funny to neutralize it. Its either I stick to teeny boppy twilight-like books or serious newsweek or some enrichment craps for a while now. Or watch an even sadder Korean movie where one of the leads will surely have some illness. Sometimes I think maybe the amounts of BBQ that they consume inspire the scriptwriter's eventual conclusion that the sickness will be cancer. It's mostly cancer.

Or maybe I should just go out for some retail therapy..haaa.. for this, everyone gets it.

blue!

hahaha... so the revamp plan went down the drain due to unforeseen circumstances to my schedule but I was determined to at least make some minor changes to this page.


Obviously have just changed the background colour and the blog header and removed some clutter. And since the header has hints of blue, the whole colour scheme should change too! awww... I liked my pink and magenta notes! hmm.. Maybe I will photoshop and change my gym ball to pink later.


and on the right you have Fishies!! my 3 new digital pet fishes. This is already a popular gadget on blogger so I don't think it is that amusing but they are so cute! Give me some time to name them. click to feed them!

Speaking of pets, I have a new addition to my pet plants family! I adopted a little potted plant - aiko! I don't know what is her species because the guy I bought it from told me in chinese. But I DO know what she will look like when she is all grown up. She will have one or two pink/red flowers only at any one time.

aiko has curves

This photo is about the actual size of it... it will probably take me a few years to see her blossom. Exciting! but slow process la. My mom has already warned me not be to over zealous and feed her too much water or fertalizer because it is a plant that is sensitive to such stuff. OMG. Aiko, please survive.

The revamp process is still ongoing. I'm looking for stuff to add on. I will also probably add a twitter update thinghie. Who knows? Maybe I have a need to publish whatever's on my mind every hour or so? Maybe I need to let people know what I'm eating for lunch? I have yet to check out twitter and have yet to figure out the fun of it. The scary part is - what if I get addicted?! Wait! Can't eat! Need to Twit! steam fish with ginger for dinner. Twit.

I'm just imagining what I would be twitting about.

Stuck in traffic jam. Twit.
Still stuck in traffic jam. Twit.
French toast for breakkie. Twit.
Don't like Mondays. Twit.
Bobbee the plant has grown one new leaf! Twit.
Found one pimple on forehead. Twit.
Stuck in traffic jam again. Twit.


shudder.

lmb's revamp plan

OK, Facebook has become like The People's Daily. So much so I don't even have things to say here anymore! Feels like if I posted the same things and same photos here, its like... un-fresh. Even to myself. Time for revamp.

my first photoshop product for lmb!

how i made this page look like sometime ago - complete with embarassing photo

But I was just reading an article the other day about why people blog. It seems that penning down your thoughts and feelings allows you to de-stress and the likes of it. I didn't pay attention as I'm in between reading a few different books and magazine and trying to keep up with the world news and our turbulent political scene which doesn't make much sense and doesn't jive with the politicians initial declarations and actual intentions. And trying to feel the patriotism on this very meaningful 52nd anniversary of Malaysia's independence.

I digress.

Anyways, I saw the highlight of it. Benefits of penning down your thoughts, albeit in digital form. And my true idea of keeping all these little thoughts and views is for me to look back when I'm 40 - like a window to my past. So if it is half hearted, how disappointing it would be then?

And perhaps in the process, I should explore twitter...hmm... been playing with the idea but do I really want to impose my "what's on your mind" on people and have other people's "what's its" imposed on me?

room to explore.. room to explore.

I plan to do this on a totally free day if I can find a comfy Starbucks in Batu Pahat where I'm going to spend 8 hours next week. I don't even know where is Batu Pahat and I don't even know if they have a Starbucks. I wonder if they at least have a wifi-enabled Old Town Kopitiam? hmm.. Or maybe I should just go for seafood.

I don't even know if Batu Pahat is famous for seafood! Or was it pottery?

room to explore.. room to explore...

curiosity!

I, Yvonne, have just renewed my infatuation with Brad Pitt.

For I have just watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button when I decided not to watch a totally sad Korean movie again. Seems like I'm always watching movies like a thousand years after the release.


Anyways, really, there is really nothing curious about why girls are always naming him when asked who they thought were hot. And this movie would not have got me watching it intently for 2.5hours had it not been Brad Pitt starring as Benjamin Button. Like how I watched Protege because Daniel Wu starred in it. :)


And what a beautiful tale. There are days when certain creative people's mind wander and come up with totally cool ideas and this story was definitely created on one of those days. But Fitzgerald's story was a short one. An interesting one but the movie has added in the spices, the soft details and the warm fuzziness that it lacked.


So there is a case of piggy backing. The cool ideas were there and someone else have picked up on it, fine tuned it and made it smoother - into a movie. Instead of B.Button born as an old man who could speak "Are you my father?", he was born as a crying baby with an old man's physics. I really thought that he would just become younger and stop at about 30 and start to age again. But it was not to be. He grew younger and younger (oh, Brad Pitt!) and then even becoming a little boy, and then a baby again. But wait, I was watching very intently when the make up department managed to make Brad Pitt look 20 again! Whoa. Natural good looks helps of course.

Got me thinking what I would do if I were to age backwards. Man, that would be just plain awkward. As Benjamin asked Daisy, "Will you still love me when I have acne?" Will make a note to buy the original DVD to keep and probably watch again when I'm 40 and start imagining aging backwards and hopefully coming up with a totally cool story that could make a totally cool movie that attracts a totally hot cast and totally enrich people's daily mundane life. Haha...

H1N1 days...

Now, everywhere I go there are people taking my temperature to make sure I don't have a fever.

Temperature taken when clocking in for work, when I walk past the KL Convention Centre (and gets an orange sticker if I pass) and also at entrances to offices and factories that I visit.

Occasionally there is also a bottle of alcohol hand sanitiser to encourage you to sanitise your hands. Some smell good (brands like Dettol and Eskulin), some smell like it didn't try hard enough to mask its chemical properties. Some are placed in beautiful glass pump bottles (ala Ikea), some in industrial size plastic bottles (ugly), some in electronic sensor dispensers (cool).

Some even provide face masks to those who opt for a safer journey ahead.

All very good measures to protect ourselves from the deadly virus. But embarassing when the thermometers are prone to hiccups! Or when your temperature fluctuates...

"Why you always got temperature one??" asks my colleagues.

I don't!! It's just the thermometers.

Some use those ear scans, some use those laser scans on foreheads, some use those temperature piece placed on the foreheads for a few seconds (slow).


Recently I got a forehead scan and failed!

"Wah, 41 darjah selsius! Miss, you tak boleh masuk ofis kita la!"

Cannot be!!!! try again!!

"Sekarang 38.5. Pun tak boleh la..."

So, how did my temperature change from 41 to 38.5 in 3 seconds? I totally do not trust your little machine and plus the fact that I drove so far away in the heat to come here! GRRR! (temperature rising).


And another encounter at work (building up a line)

"OMG, Yvonne, 39.5! You can MC today la! hahaha!" *some colleagues gasped, stepping a little further away from me*

Cannot!!! I have appointments already~~~ Try again!

*digs around for ear scan instead*
"Oh, 36, OK pass... Happy working!


Why ah?...

Sexy Lips are taking a retreat!

Oh man! It's been a while...


I've just been too busy to think of anything interesting at all to post here. I mean, lotsa new things are happening but I can't just go like this:

"Wow, today, I learn the techniques of speaking to clients. This is interesting to me because I have not done this before and I'm really nervous about meeting clients on my own soon."

or like this:

"So today I met a very nice client who even offered me a cup of tea while I talked about my hotel."

or about Bee again:

"Today I brought Bee for a shower again and he squeaked in delight and wagged its tail".


Yawnz.


So, today I accompanied our Japanese sales manager on one of the visits and while waiting for a client to appear, which is when I sometimes feel makes them feel nice and important, I suddenly thought that hey, this is really funny. Even the receptionists were trying not to LOL at us.


I spy with my little camera...


Oh man, those security guards point their temperature guns at us and shoved this onto our faces. "Wear this".

OK...

Now, if a Sales Manager has lips like Angelina and uses it to her advantage by capturing the attention of the clients or whatever is in their imagination, she'll have to re-think her strategy now. Maybe wear more perfume or edgier outfits to leave an impression.

We were told to put these masks on right after we "secretly behind-the-scene" reapplied lipstick and gloss in perfect alignment with the contours of our lips whilst being careful not to cause "lipstick bleeding".

"Aiyo, next time no need to put lipstick anymore. Wasting!"
"If I have to wear this again, I'll have to reapply foundation before the next visit!"
"The client won't even know if we are smiling at them you know!"
"I think it is smearing my lipstick now."
"Ya, how are they going to know if we are sincere??"
"Now we have to really work on the eye make up la because all the attention is there!"
"Do I have to speak louder?"
"Eh, is this mask clean or not. Did you see the guard holding it? Not very clean yah"


And our meaningless rants and questions go on until the client appears, feeling nice and important.


Somehow, the duration of "waiting for the client to show up at the reception" churns out the funniest moments of my sales calls. Maybe I will record more of it to create another chapter in my life. o_O

Bee!

Ah, Transformers Revenge of the Fallen was fantastic! So many new faces! Optimus Prime did not disappoint me at all... I love Optimus!! Autobots attack!

A conversation...
"I love Optimus Prime! He so man.."
"Oh, the lorry izzit.."
"He's not just a lorry ok..."


Another conversation...
"Eh I almost cried man..."
"When? When Sam died?"
"What! No! Of course not! I almost cried when I saw Megan Fox"

So, the male part of our movie trip was there solely for Megan Fox (eventhough some of them claim to be watching the autobots action). The females? Josh Duhamel!


Another conversation...
"Did you realize that the captain (Josh Duhamel) only cares about Mikaela (Megan Fox)? Only pull her hand, only shield her, only call her name?"
"Of course la.. who wanna care about that Shia La.. something.. La what ya?"


And of course Bumblebee was as cute as always. And this sequel did portray the close bond between Bumblebee and Sam. Sam calls him "Bee!"
hahaha.. so cute! like calling a baby!

And so exciting! I finally have collected my car today! Therefore, I have decided to name my pet car Bee too. Well, what can I say? I'm a girl. I name everything!

"What do you name your car?"
"Name my car? For what?!"
"Don't you feel a connection to it? See? I named my plant Bobbee so I can relate to it. It's not just some shrub on my desk ok"
"Don't get it.."


But girls get it

"So is your car a male or female?"
"Male. I'm pretty sure."
"So have you named it?"
"Still thinking of one.. what do you wanna name yours?"
"Bee."
"Cute!"

I went to collect it with my friend and when we saw the car, we went, "Hey Bee!!" Of course this is after the delivery guy have left. Well, can't help it.

An sms to her later...
"Bee taking shower now. Thanks for coming along!"


sms to dad
"Got my car. It is named Bee. Taking Bee for a spin around KL later."

For the first time, my dad did not reply my sms.

:D

what's the fucking point?

OK, very fucking angry right now.

This will be a good lesson to me. Have to put it down in writing (albeit digital one) so I will forever have it carved in my memory and never follow this stupid tradition.


Now, why do we fucking choose to purchase products/services from people we know?


My parents have a very old school thinking that we should buy things from people we know.. like friends, relatives, acquaintances etc because of a few reasons - support their business, solicit discounts, a peace of mind that the goods/services sold will have a quality guarantee.

Like real la.


fuck.


When the product/services screw up, the disadvantages start to show:
1) They apologize and automatically expects forgiveness (which we are obligated to because of the relationship - what we call "close one eye")
2) They give you some excuse/reason and you are compelled to accept (otherwise, does that mean you don't trust your friend?)
3) You can show you are not happy but you cannot complain too much because you have to "give face"


and this, ladies and gentlemen, is the fucking problem.


What more if that friend/relative/acquaintance is your parent's friend/relative/acquaintance which automatically upgrades them to "senior" level whereby you practically cannot do anything about it but sulk and wait for the slow recovery of the situation.

and I hate that whole "nothing you can do about it" situation.

fuck.


Like, will you choose to eat a mediocre plate of, say, char kuay teow just because the owner of the stall is your friend when you know you can get a superb and famous one next door selling at the same price with people queueing up to buy it. The only problem is the queue. Or maybe also sometimes it would be more expensive.

BUT at the end of the day, I know I'm getting a good plate of char kuay teow. And I eat it to satisfaction with I can tell the stall owner "good job!" and when the chef does a bad job, I can tell him, "why nowadays you don't add enough si-ham one?". If it was that your father's friend who cooked it, can you do that? NO. and you go home fhungry. and fangry.

SO. No more buying things from people I know. If there are people queueing up to buy from you, then OK lah. THEN I will use my friendship with you to get you to sell it to me first.

back to basics

You know how all babies look cute? (when they are not screaming) They look even cuter when they are happy! And many times I have seen babies playing around and then laughing to themselves. So happy and carefree.

Most of the time, you see them lie on their back and lift their legs up and clutch their own feet. Cute right? Like this image:


So a few days ago during yoga, as my class was looking forward to the Child's Pose (all time favourite), our instructor told us to do the the Happy Baby instead. Yes! This little taken for granted thing that babies excel at is actually an official pose.

But of course, when done by adult female, can be kind of awkward to the sight. Imagine a group of women 'kangkang' habis and laughing away. Oh well, Happy Baby pose, everyone! This sort of caught us by surprise but soon everyone was laughing and having a good time stretching our inner thighs and what nots. The pose is essentially to stretch the back too and normally we roll side to side to "massage" the back.


Now, if you are having a bad day and need a comfort zone, just do the Happy Baby and roll around on your back. Better than to indulge in a pint of super creamy and delicious and addictive and heart-melting Coffee Truffle ice cream from Haagen Dazs. Good tip, eh!

a note on Edward Cullen

I just thought I have to talk about him.

I have just finally watched Twilight (yes, very cut off from the NOW these days) and I have just finally understood all the buzz with Edward Cullen!

I mean, aunties in their 30s were writing in to The Star newspapers a while ago to rave and rave about him. And I believe they have children. Girls were swooning about him. Even some boys! But they cover up by talking about Bella Swan a little bit more - yawn.

To understand this indescribable infatuation with a very young and tall and very pale-skinned boy, you'll have to watch the movie. I didn't think he looked strikingly hot from the beginning but as he smoothly advance in the movie, he's like... erm.. WAH! So intense! Even he himself could not fathom what drove him crazy. He thought it was Bella Swan but maybe, just maybe, he saw himself in the mirror? hehee...;)

All women should go out there and get an Edward Cullen for themselves. Period.

"yay! child pose!"

Today was my 6th yoga class and as I get more familiar to the various names of the poses, my yoga class seemed to get funnier.


Last time, when we don't hold our poses long enough, our yoga instructor will threaten us by saying "whoever drop out of balance first must do 10 chaturanga!" and nobody really reacted because.. er.. what's a chaturanga?

This is a chaturanga:



And now that we know what's a chaturanga, when she says "give me 5 chaturanga.." you can already hear us going "oh my gawwwd!!!"

Followed by the "urgh! urg! urpppp!"

My yoga instructor is super patient as she smiles and say, "OK good, now hold, hold, hold"

That's the favourite line: "Good, now hold, hold, hold"

And because she is so patient and nice, naturally you'll want to follow what she says and you go hold, hold..... not quite.. "aik!" *crash* *gets up quickly*... hold. Cheat at yoga!


Anyways, as the class gets smaller, the instructor has more opportunity to scrutinize your every pose/stretch/posture.



Just when you seem to be in a comfort zone with your Downward Dog, she comes to you and ask you to bend lower and have your legs go straighter. And another favourite phrase of hers: "OK, I'm coming to lend you a hand"

She says this ask she pushes you to your stretchability limits. Never did I know I can do that!

And during the one hour class, around the 45th minute, after we have stretched more than we can and held more than we could ever imagine, she will announce, "OK, now, get into a child's pose to relax yourself a little"

To which we will go: "Yay!!!"

"My favourite!"
"My comfort zone!"

amongst others exclamation of happiness. Well, there's not a lot of poses where we ALL excel in other than the Child's Pose.

You see, this is a Child's Pose:
Good right.


Anyways, I told my instructor that my aim/goal is to do the yoga handstand. And she duly did this:

"Is it this one?"

"Whoaaaa!!" went the class.

She said that some people can achieve this just after around 3-6 months of practicing yoga. Hontouni?!!

Cool. If I ever get to do this, I'll make sure I take a photo and post it here and even in Facebook.

going green

.... and I thought I was a bit paranoid with taking care of my little potted plant Bobbee and his new water-based sister Dee-Dee. When they look kinda wilt-ish, I water them and touch their leaves to make sure they know I'm there. I even introduce them to all my colleagues. But I just found out there are people who takes this more seriously than I ever did!

Maxine: Psst!!
Me: *whisper* yes? er, why are we whispering?
Maxine: *whisper* Ms Nora is going to give you one of her.. wait

*use her palms to cover Dee-Dee so Dee-Dee won't hear our conversation.

Maxine: .. going to give you one of her plants. Also water-based. You have to think of a new name for it and think where to put it!
Me: *whispers back* OK! Let's see... not sure. Have to see it first!

*removes palms around Dee-Dee*

Maxine: OK. I'm going to inherit one of the plants as well. Do you think Emily is a good name?
Me: Sounds nice! One of the more popular names.. but..
Maxine: Each time I think of Emily, I think of Emily Rose
Me: Yes, exactly what I wanted to say. Better not.


Our Front Office Manager treats her plants like her pets as she speaks to them and praise them when they look fresh and pretty. She's being promoted and is leaving to another sister hotel for her new challenges but sadly, her pets cannot follow... so we are inheriting it!


FOM: Its OK. You'll have a new owner who will take good care of you. Really good care, OK?

At first I thought it was just basically speaking to the plants in general... like how are you all today?

But she acknowledges each of them and with a meaningful look. Like having a conversation. No wonder they are so healthy. Wow. I thought I was alone in this world where I'm the only one who talks to inanimate objects until now! So, I'm pretty normal after all. Try suing me for talking to my plants!

On the day we inherited the plants...

Maxine: Awww... I shall name you Lovely... Yvonne, is Lovely a good name for her?
Me: Yeah, she is lovely after all..
Maxine: And you, Beauty... aww... tomorrow I'll clean you up, OK?


You see, Maxine is new to plants. So this is like her first baby. There is bound to be more fuss and frills for these plants. Like the first time parent, the baby has priority in everything. Even a place on her desk.

Me?

Maxine: So, what are you going to name your new family member?
Me: Well, I'm going to buy a bigger bowl and merge Dee-Dee with him and they can flourish and have lotsa leaves(children) together...
Maxine: How did you know the new plant is a male? How sure are you?
Me: hmm... I guess it doesn't matter.. they are.. erm.. homos...
Trainee: *choke choke*
Maxine: Hmm.. that will do.

oh, to be a taxi driver

I have given it some thinking. Mainly because I was taking a time out and didn't want to think of anything too mind-boggling. Just some menial things. Let's see. Scan through the archive of menial things to think about when chilling. Ah, I decided to think about how difficult it is to be a taxi driver in KL. Therefore, I have thought of the challenges faced by taxi drivers so we can appreciate them more for their services.

1) You think it is easy to be driving for long hours in a taxi with cheap fragrance?
2) Have to fork out hundred plus bucks to 'modify' my meter, ok!
3) Have to always decide on where I want to go and where I don't want to go.
4) Customers are not willing to pay 'flat rates' these days due to the economy! darn!
5) Have to practice making the 'face' when customers tell me some weird place they wanna go to.
6) Have to calculate fares. Meter Rm16.50 + Toll RM 2.00 = RM21 la! Got 2 tolls you know... RM 1 each. But customers don't understand.
7) I hate it when customers want to go to KLCC. Jam la!
8) Cannot tahan when customers ask me to print receipts. The machine never works!

Man... not easy. And I thought the current hot weather was the main problem. I always tell them to drink more water. Ganbateh, drivers!

what's with the weather?

Such beautiful weather today!!!


It is sunny and hot, as it has been all week, but is it also super windy! Nice. With my curtains making swish-swoshing sounds as they brush against the window sills, I almost imagined I was at the beach listening to lazy waves. Time to head to the pool.

Well, just want to note about something nice because everyone's been complaining about the weather lately. Everyone's been complaining about a lot of things lately... yes, me too! Time to look at the beautiful side of things.


Also, because I still have internet to use! hahahaha!! I'm running out of ideas on what to do with the connection. Paid all my bills, checked all my e-mails. Superpoked people on facebook and checked out everyone's walls and photos. MSN-ed to death. Googled for ideas for Mother's day presents. What else?!

Maybe I should go outside and play now.

wah!

So it is Labour Day today and I didn't have any internet connection and so after waking up at 12.30pm (excuse: I am on medication), I had lunch and turned on the TV for my pigging out in front of the TV. I AM on medication.


Well, if you feel you lack sadness in your life, turning on the TV at 1.30pm is the best way to feel the depression and sadness that you need. Wah. From RTM 1 to TV9, all sad shows! Even the Feel Good channel was not spared. RTM 1 had some discussion on some sad issue, RTM2 had a scene where a prostitute was crying while praying because she was forced into it while her evil colleagues told her to dream on, TV3 had a Makcik staying in an old, dirty hut by herself with no money because her son and evil wife duped her into moving out on the pretext that they want to renovate it to make it bigger and so they can live with her and take care of her BUT never invited her back to her now big house. NTV7 had a scene where a family is crying at a funeral and the father saying "it is all my fault, it is all my fault". TV9... is just plain sad.


There is no use of a flat screen TV if you don't have good stuff on TV. Or Astro. Or good movies on DVD. Let's see. Have watched Austalia (whoa, loved that scene where Hugh Jackman took a bath in the woods with that one can of water). Protege... hmm... let's watch again! Watching a movie twice is made OK when you have Daniel Wu starring in it. yum cha yum cha.. there goes my afternoon.

Halfway reading my "A complaint is a Gift", suddenly I thought... Maybe, just maybe, I can test out my internet and see if I can still use it. Bingo! Can still be used! whoa!! I wonder why... even when I don't top up! Its OK... add some shine to my day.


Yesterday, said before dodgy number guy called me to explain why my internet connection is slow. Actually, I think there will be less damage done if he didn't call because this is what he said:

"I have already asked my boss and he told me that where you are staying is under the Umbrella Effect.. yada yada (something I didn't get)... So that's why it is slower now. So that's why we decided to OFFER to you to top up at RM48, less expensive, because you are not getting the fast speed up to 1mbps. This one will change yours to half the speed. So it is savings for you! So now you pay half the price and can still get connection!"


Of course, I was speechless.


But, since he is so sincere in "helping" his customers, I decided it is OK. Just straight to the point: I told him that I don't care about money. I want the speed.

He said he have to refer to his boss and find out what other solutions he can offer other than the hint he gave such as, erm, you still want to stay there? Hahaha... move out to another place just so I can subscribe to your internet? wah.... very confident la this fella.


Now I'm really anticipating if he will ever call back and if he does, what solutions his company can offer me.

internet woes

OK, so with NO choice because I stay so many floors above ground I made a hasty decision on Saturday...


I signed up for Streamyx!


Shit. Suddenly I got this feeling like the kind of feeling you get when you finally made a decision and the decision is something that people frown upon. Is this matter something that I should march on ahead with or frown along?

hmmm...


The thing is, Streamyx has been having lotsa bad press if you ask me. However, my mom and dad uses Streamyx but does not seem to be having problems...so far... so.. this is a 50/50 thing.


Only time will tell. Let's see how efficient they are first. I was told to wait 3 days for them to call me to install the whatsit and then 2 days to deliver the modem whatsit. I will not have internet till the weekend! help!!!

Oh, right now I'm using the final day of my current Izzi and am glad. It all seemed fine and dandy at first but their customer service really really needs improvements. Not professional and they always have dodgy mobile numbers calling you to inquire on when is the last day of my top up, like, what the fuck? I should be asking you!! And there was once this guy called to say he can offer to sell the top up at a cheaper rate and I question him how will I know if he is really from Izzi and he decided to say, "Well, I'm calling you now to give you this offer!" Not the answer that I was looking for so I hung up.

Then suddenly, 2 days ago, some other guy called me on his mobile to "inform" me that I did not top up and would like to offer me to buy a top up from him and I said, no, I'm still surfing the internet and it is so slow by the way. Then he ask, oh, how many days do you have left before you need to top up. I said, I think you should be telling me, not me telling you. Then he proceeded to step on thin ice by asking me this , "what do you mean by slow?"

I said, well, picture this: I click to open my e-mail, I go out for dinner and I come back, the e-mail is not opened. So how?

He said impossible and I said this is what I am experiencing sometimes.

Then he decided to make an appointment to come over and check it out. OK, can give second chance. But he or his "technicians" did not call back. Too bad. It was promising but it died a sure death.

Anyways, all that shall be behind my ass now. However, the future seems to be rather dodgy too. haih...

corrected

So, in all my confusion and limitations (17th floor too high so WiMax cannot reach, it seems), I have decided to just go and ask this WiMax counter boy at my place about the possibilities of utilizing their services, because I was getting sick of the irregularities and unpredictable state of my current service provider and am paying a lot for it! Crappo!!

I asked him about WiMax and he tried to "upsell" to me. Seriously, that's all everyone's doing lately. Upsell, that is.

Then he also decided to introduce their new Wiggy thinghy to me.

So I said, "Oh, I know about that. The wiggy (I pronounced it as wee gee) right?"

Then he decided that enough is enough! What's wrong with all these customers! Getting the name wrong!! He said, "Er, actually, it is wee-jee..."

"Oh. Oh.... really? erm, the 'wee jee'. Of course."

OK, I have yet to talk to someone else who works with WiMax. I need clarifications.


Like, do you pronounce piggy bank as pee jee bank?



Why, ah? hmmm.....

monday rocks for once

Am on leave today and man, do I love being off on weekdays. I mean, you can hear the birds chirping!! I still can, by the way. Look at me! Loving and living life at 9.00am! Hahaha...


The best part about not working on Mondays is the semi-smugness you feel as you watch people going to work grudgingly, majority of them silently cursing in their heads, "wtf. wtf. wtf." Some still thinking about yesterday's party. Some still thinking of that top on 50% discount during their Sunday shopping spree, "Should I have bought it?" Some wondered if they remembered to pack their Easter chocolate eggs. Some just did not seem to have woken up as they snoozed all the way, heads bowed low and handbags slipping away with files dropping out of their "Save the Environment" shopper bags.


I took my mommy to the train station and on the way back, I saw a later batch of people going to work. They also have the same look and the almost same invisible speech bubbles except that theirs said "wtf" in capitals. Like, "WTF". Maybe they were running late? hmmm..


I'm going for a swim and sunbath now. Ta!

finally?

So.

It is past Good Friday now.

Before this, I told myself that the moment I reach Saturday, I shall eaaaaaaaat chocolates! Like I mean it! Like a big kid, I announced that I'm going to hunt down alllll the Easter Bunnies Chocolates and eat 'em all! Move aside kiddies! (To which my bossy pointed out that it wasn't what Easter is all about. I know...)

But it has been a whole 23 hours and I did not gobble chocolates like I'm having THAT time of the month x 12. x 12!

:)

Because to fast is not about to end up indulging in it later on, right? Then, it would just be self torture.


Anyways, no chocs and no meat for me yesterday for Good Friday. One of my colleagues joined me on the Vegetarian flavoured Maggi cup noodles lunch yesterday. For her religious purposes, she has her own meat-fasting vows for Tuesdays and Fridays.

"I'm not even supposed to have sex on these days."

"And not even think about it!" she announced.

To which we were quite sceptical. o_o


"But I can't help it la."


By the way, we had a farewell party that day in the staff lounge and, man, were the desserts deeelicious. Ooh, mini strawberries. Ooh, watermelon. Ooh, tiny oval-shaped choc cake with super big chocolate chip shaped choc topping and mini chocolate piece stuck on the choc topping created by our pastry team. You just can never over-do chocolates. Everything goes.

*pops a piece into my mouth*

"mm..... MMm!!! MMM!!!!"
"What? What? Does it taste bad??" asks Maxine trying to understand my mumbling which suddenly turned too exciting.
"mmm-mm-mm!!"
"hmm? oh! Cho-co-late?" Spit it out! Spit it out!"

hahaha....

"It's OK. You didn't swallow it."
"Yeah... Man, that was good cake over there."
"It's OK. Only 2 more days to go."

I can almost imagine people shaking their heads disapprovingly.


The in came my dessert buddy Iris, prancing happily into the office.

"So, is our brownie plan at DELIcious still on?!"
"hahaha... yes, yes..."


Happy Easter, people! :D

i-scream!

Random pic of my Very Very Strawberry

Yesterday, after a super heavy lunch at Ichiban Boshi I decided to convince my friends to go have ice cream at the Baskin Robbins Cafe. I was craving for sugar ok. It was then that I started to wish I have worked part-time in an ice cream parlour last time. I should have been more adventurous and independent! The only part-time I have done is giving tuition for my juniors and part-time sales assistant in Topshop and that was a really good experience.


The thing is, you will feel like the most powerful person at that moment when the customer orders an ice cream from you. You sort of get to silently decide how big a scoop the customer gets and you sort of get to silently decide how much toppings they get to enjoy too!

Now, I'm very sure they have a standard operating procedure in place and a standardized scoop size and toppings count.

But it seems the sizes have been varying in this past month when I go to all the different brands. Sometimes I get a very very standard scoop (like, so small you almost felt disappointed) and sometimes I get a very full scoop, where the, erm, ice cream guy (what are their designation?), spend some time perfecting his skills to make a super round scoop (not the semi-spherical one). So, really, I don't really fancy the idea that each time I go to an ice cream parlour, the size of my ice cream scoop depends on who scoops my ice cream!

Already, I see some nods over there.

Anyways, my experience in Baskin Robbins was good. Service was excellent. Well, mostly you pick your flavour and you ask for a pinch to taste, you decide and you pay. Sort of self-service. But again, it depends on who you approach to get your scoop.

This dude I got was super friendly and smiley. It seems like he is really enjoying his work, serving his valued customers with their favourite flavours and seeing their smiles makes him feel satisfied and keeps him going. Or maybe, he was just born smiley.

Anyways, when I asked for tasting, he happily obliged. You know it is very difficult for me, these past few weeks, to decide on a flavour because I'm fasting from chocolates. And those waiters at NZ Natural and Haagen Dazs doesn't seem to fancy the thought of me being undecided. Hello.

And he really fill up the tiny spoon so I get a thorough taste before I make my decision. And finally, Very Very Strawberry it is! Man, was the scoop so perfectly round.. and big. I suddenly remembered the i-scream parlour in HongKong! Nostalgic! Bravo! We have here, ladies and gentlemen, an Ice Cream Guy!

Good, eh. Good ice cream after good sashimi and followed by a long gossip session with my friends. Oh, satisfying.

Now, let's see. Based on my recent visits to these places, I shall now suggest to you how to get a good ice cream experience.

1) If you see a crowd of undecided people, stand back and wait till they have chosen and bought their scoops. Patience, people. When the Ice Cream Guy/Girl is busy/kan cheong, he or she will be less attentive to your Big Decision Making on the flavours.

2) Look out for the Ice Cream Guy/Girl who looks like they take pride in their jobs. If they all look crappy, then have to depend on number 3).

3) If possible, approach the Ice Cream Guy if you are a girl and approach the Ice Cream Girl if you are a guy. Oh yes, there IS a difference.

4) Give them your 'Ooh! Ice Cream!" look to show how much this scoop of ice cream mean to you. Don't know the look? Erm, just bring a 5 year old to the shop and copy that look.

5) Ask politely, almost like you are troubling them, to taste the various crazy flavours. This is free after all.

6) When you have decided, give them your "Yes, I have decided" look and ask them for "one big round scoop of ________" and smile. I didn't actually say this but I think I will start to the next time I go. Hehe. Just to be sure.

7) If you really do get a big round scoop, give them the happiest look you have and pay. If you don't, then give them the "disappointed but it is OK because obviously you like to cheat your customers" look. I guess it doesn't really matter since you already have the ice cream in your hand but at least he/she will feel guilty and will think carefully when he/she decides to stinge on the scoop again! :D