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...

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.

Forty days of serious crave

OK, I think I'm kind of torturing myself.

Give me some chocolates already! roar!


It is the Lent season and normally people would refrain/fast from something. Maybe to feel the pain that Jesus went through. For forty days.

And I decided on chocolates. This was decided when I was having my weekly jog around KLCC park with my colleagues Presee and Maxine. It wasn't difficult to decide.
I mean, I already don't get worldly pleasures like most people. Such as
-alcohol
-coffee
-cigarettes

...among other things.


So how? Chocolates lah. Noooooooooooo.... well, there is nothing else that I can think of. I eat chocolates everyday.

Sometimes as a morning snack on my way to work in the LRT. I eat some after lunch because I have a habit to eat something sweet after a meal and I personally don't like candies. So I go for the smooth, milky and sweet chocolates. I eat it as an energy booster (and sometimes mood booster) in the afternoon at work. If anyone goes to KLCC Suria and asks what I want to "tapao" from there, I'll go "get me some chocolates! I need to re-stock!" before I think of anything else to ta-pao. I eat some when I'm reading or watching TV or waiting for people. It is common to find a pack of M&Ms tucked in my bag for emergency chocolate needs (I'm serious). I even eat some before I sleep because it makes me happy, OK?.

Forty days.


No wonder I've been moody. urgh. What a toll.

I've been told that this kind of fasting is kind of meaningless because I don't frequently go to church. Oh well, since I have already put my heart to it and as long as I have the faith in my heart. :)


Forty days.

Positively thinking, I actually save a lot of money because I really eat a lot of chocolates. Let's see:

Weekly big Cadbury bar - RM6.99 x 4
Pocky - RM2.99 x around 4
M&Ms small pack - RM2.39 x 6
M&Ms big pack - around RM 5.00 x 2

Estimated Monthly Total = RM64.26

Hmm... maybe I should keep this up.

And I get healthier too:

Colleague : Yvonne, want anything from KLCC?
Me: ... just get me some juice...
Colleague : You sure?


The pain is magnified when...

"Yvoooooonne, here are some chocolates for you! I know you like chocolates. I bought this from Dubai!!"
*dramatic sad music, all lights go out and only spot light on me, already on my knees - why... why...
cannot breathe.

Forty days...

I'm SO going for chocolate brownies at Delicious at Marc after Good Friday.

Oh anyways, I found out about this heavenly brownies from a friend long time ago and have been having it a few times. I recently had a chat with a foreign tourist who was telling me about his experiences in KL and then he started talking about these same brownies. Haha. Small world. Described as "a piece of heaven compacted into a piece of brownie".

Forty days............

25 more to go...

how much is that teddy in the window?

eeeeeeeeeee...! I want a dog!

I went for some pau and dim sum breakfast yesterday... decided to reward my tummy with some good food since I've been having the tummy runs for the past 3 days.

oh btw, I love to eat pau! Yums.

"see, got pau in the background!"

And the group of us decided to stop by the pet shop opposite of the DimSum Shop to walk off the access of paus and gargantuan amounts of dim sum we gobbled.


Then, I thought that I should get a pet. Something to coo and cuddle and play with.

First thing I saw were the fishes section. Boring. And brings back bad memories of my one and only pet, a fighting fish, which died mysteriously. Surprisingly, I didn't name that fish so I'm not too affected.


I saw some birds too...
They didn't strike me with the emotional connection I wanted.


Some hamsters perhaps? Hamtaro, the japanese cartoon, sort of made these little creatures sooo likeable.
But it must be ticklish to hold them...

Then comes the doggy section! So cute!!

I particularly liked this one which looks like a fat teddy bear:

It looks so sad I wanna take it home! Aced the emotional connection requirements!


I had to pull myself away. Condominium living doesn't permit for a dog... not even a super cute one (how inflexible). Plus, I'm never home. How!

You, teddy dog, shall be in my wish list for now. Will get you one day... soon!

So, so Red

Last Friday night, I arrived in Kluang at about 11.10pm. I was tired and in a daze but I was having a nice supper with my family. While eating and gossiping and feeling like I was high, my phone suddenly buzzed. I received a message from my one of my ex-classmates. Looked serious to me so I read it twice.


"I hv a question.. If u focus on studying hard, getting gud grades, getting gud job & in the end, still find urself unsuccessful. Would u tell ur child 2 do the same?"

I scrolled down further to look for an answer in the SMS. I read it again and realised that it was not an inspirational forwarded SMS.

This got me thinking.


What year is it?! Am I thirty already??


Oh. Still 22 years old and counting. Phew. I didn't just miss out the estimated 8 years of my life.


I replied, "Are you drunk or are you on drugs?"

This is not like him at all. He is not the kind who would be drunk or be on drugs which added to my confusion.


"Ha2. I'm still sober. ;) jz curious ;)"

Oh. Phew.

At this point, I figured that he was doing a minor research after some soul searching and probably will blog about it. hmm. Must find out if he has a blog.

I replied, "How many ppl did u ask? Anyways, tell your child to do his best and follow his dreams :)"

Now I wonder if he already has a child. How old are we again? 22 right??


"Um, 10? Jz sum questions from my observations..;). sum even replied dunno how to answer.. ;) cheers and keep in touch.. ;)"

He kept on winking ;) so I felt compelled to ask:

"Is your girlfriend pregnant?"


To which he denied.


Anyways, I did my own little "survey" recently too. I randomly asked a few people (of different age, ideas, profession, tastes etc) if I should colour my hair blond. I just felt doing something to my hair.


Almost everyone said NO, BAD IDEA or JUST GO BROWN.

Only Murni, true to her Go For It nature, said WAH! YES!


Anyways, since majority said no to blond, I decided on Red. :) it is pretty harmless. I've seen people colouring red. You've probably seen it too. It is like red, maybe not, maybe is, only visible under bright light. OK-lah. Not too crazy right.


I went to this hair salon in Kluang which I go to if I ever go to one in Kluang called Shann. The guy who did my hair was this young dude with a patch on top of his head coloured white and the middle of the patch in bright yellow. Try imagining an egg prepared sunny-side up. But it is rather interesting to me. Like a little Canary has just decided to nest on top of this head. But still cute.

Canary boy (I say boy because I think he is very young. Prob 20 only) was very efficient and quick. Like an Italian waiter. Or like that crustacean in Finding Nemo that does the cleaning in the fish tank. Like, now you see, now you don't. I picked a colour that was not too obvious because it was my first time and chose to do highlights instead and he quickly set to work without further a do. I wanted to tell him to slow down even.

Anyways, my hair turned out really, really RED.


This photo is like a muted version. The real colour is unbelievably RED. I guess it is because my hair is very fine that it turned out redder than I have expected. Well, I actually liked it. Just worried about whether it will match my face, my personality and most importantly, because we were going to have a family steamboat dinner in my house, what will grammy say, what will aunties and uncles say, what will mom and dad say. oh-oh. I think I just did a boo-boo.


Anyways, there were also concerns about what my boss will say. My colleauges, whom I SMS-ed immediately after, said, "Don't worry lah."


The results was not like my previous brown highlights done at Toni & Guys. This is the difference between a RM100 highlight job compared to a supposed RM300 highlight job. T&G actually painstakingly chose tiny tiny bundle of hair to colour and even used different shades and took me 3-4 hours. But here, of course, they don't do it that way. I have bigger streaks which might look like patches if not careful. Now, I'm not sure if I should feel terrible or not. But I decided to like it.


Canary Boy gave a pretty good service and even did a very good job with the hair-wash. I mean, next time you go for a hair-wash, get a guy. Because they are stronger and give better massages and they don't (usually) have those dangerous nails scratching your scalp.

So I decided to like it. See how much a difference good service do to your organization? If the service is good, people are more likely to overlook the little glitches here and the little un-met expectations there. But if the service is bad, people will have loads to say to loads of people. Like this post.



On another note, I had durians!!

It has been a looong time.

My dad executing his skills.

Sticking to traditions, we sat/squat on the floor to eat durians.
I prefer the yellow-fleshed ones!

Me eating with a spoon and tiny bowl.

Benefits of eating with a spoon includes:

1) no smell on hands (which could last for days)
2) no transfer of germs from hands to durians to stomach
3) if the phone rings, I still can go pick up
4) no wastage of durian which normally will stick to all fingers

:D

my first blood donation

Hari ini dalam sejarah(peribadi) : On the 15th of November 2007, Yvonne donated her blood for the first time.

The day before the blood drive, I thought of all the excuses possible for me to not be able to donate blood. According to the guideline, one cannot donate blood if:

-one weighs less than 45 kg
-one has had less than 5 hours sleep the night before
-one is homosexual
-one has multiple sexual partners
-one has HIV+/ AIDS

OK. I think I can only admit to #1 and #2. Anyways, seeing the determination and willingness in my boss and colleague, Bin, I decided to just go for it. So I slept early the night before.

*Silently hoping that I would turn out to be 45kg or less tomorrow . -_-.

-Bin reading the fine prints-

Anyways, so Bin and I went first. It is also the first time for him and he seems to be more nervous than me. Me? I was still hoping that I would be 45kg or less. Anyways, he came up with excuses like, "I feel a bit weak. How come ah? I think I feel a headache". "Please lah!"

-My blood was tested-

Whatever. When the time came, we both filled in the forms and went for the tests first. It turned out that my blood type was B! Cool. So now I know. I was so excited watching them test my blood. The nurse politely smiled and explained but I think she thinks I have been living in the jungle for the past 22 years of my life.

Anyways, first test was the weight. I was 46kg! Shit.

Second test was the amount of iron in my blood. They will take a drop of blood and drop it into some solution and if that drop of blood sinks, it means that I have enough iron to donate. I passed this too! Shit.

Next, it was to proceed to the doctor to test my blood pressure. The doctor said, "Wow. So you actually passed the first stage. Let's see if your blood pressure pass too."

I asked her, "What normally happens when people like me donate?"

It seems people like me normally experience dizziness, feel weak or just plain faint. And probably cry during the donation because of fear. -_-.

-Trying to keep cool when the doctor said that my blood pressure passed too-

Huh! This was my last hope as an excuse to escape this scary experience. OK. I think I should just shut up and go ahead. I asked the doctor, "Are you sure?" before deciding that I should really just shut up and go ahead.

For the record, I wasn't forced into this. I wanted to do it for the experience but of course the little voice in my head went "siao ah?!"

Anyways, so there I was. Very excited. Bin was also excited but scared. So there goes. They made sure my name was correct and asked me to hold some cheap plastic cut off pipe. I thought I was going to get a red squishy rubber ball! OK. Maybe low on budget. Anyways, my veins were very easy to find so it proceeded without incident. You could locate my veins without even slapping my arm like how they slapped Bin's arm.

I was laughing all the way and instructing Jon, my trainee who was afraid of blood, to take photos for me to blog with.

"Jon, I want side view, ya! Can see the packet of blood not?"

Anyways, halfway through, Bin's blood stopped moving and so the nurses poked him again. It was very unfortunate for him because he ended up with some blue-blacks. Anyways, I kept on laughing at him and at the whole experince and that probably made my blood flow out faster and also fortunately made me forget that this was scary. The doctor even came over to look see. "Wah, you're still OK! Haven't fainted?"

Finally after about less than 15 minutes, 350ml of blood was out of my system.

"Whoa."

I thought 350ml would be like a can of coke. This was like crazy big packet. Like blood from my whole arm was inside. Surprisingly I did not feel weak or dizzy or faint or cry.

I was making so much noise calling Jon to come over and take photo of me with my packet of blood. The nurse kept if aside and when Jon came, he passed the blood to him. Jon was like, "wtf!" (No he didn't say it but I think he thought like that)

Then they said they have prepared some food for me. A cup of hot Milo, a packet of chocolate biscuits, a Red Bean bun and a packet of Yeo's soya milk. I thought I had to finish everything so I did. I forced everything down even though I didn't like Red Bean buns. I had Nasi Lemak for breakfast wei. I later found out that I could actually choose which one I wanted to eat. Oh.

Anyways, they also gave me a little red book to keep track of everytime I donate blood. I thought "Wah. They have so much confidence in me?" because the book has space up till # 112. Haha. Erm, I don't think I can fill it up in this lifetime.

The more you donate, the more benefits you will get when you visit the hospitals. You get upgraded to better wards and you get free outpatient treatments. Some could get free Hepatitis B jabs and so on. Wow.

Donate today and think about the lives you will save! It is not painful and it doesn't leave any scars. Cool stuff.

I told my dad excitedly through SMS that I donated my blood.

He replied, "I have been donating for years."

Show off!

decisions

I just came back from my hometown, Kluang. It was nice to spend time with mom, dad and my sis eventhough it was just for 2 days. Or was it one day plus? Anyways, my mom kept on commenting on how much weight I have lost and kept on telling me to eat this and that and eat more fruits and drink more water and sleep early and so on and finally she asked me to keep my hair long. I was, like, "Huh? Why?"


I like short hair now! So fuss free! I don't really know why but she very much preferred me with long hair. Now, I have scheduled to have my hair trimmed this Wednesday. Should I or shouldn't I?
Hmmm...