“Of course – go blonde..”

So I was watching extreme makeovers the other day and there was this girl who had a protruding jaw, she is 18, and the time had finally come for her to be able to have her jaw correction operation. So after everything’s done and its all ok and it’s the last part where she gets her hair and makeup done.

And she wants a new look cos she’s starting college, and the first thing she says to the hairstylist is the she wants to be in a sorority in college, so of course – go blonde!!

There are like 2 million other colours, whats the deal with blonde anyway? Like I was watching Dr Phil in CPH with Katie and there’s this teenager who’s into space monkey )I think its called) – it’s a game when the group tries to suffocate someone (their friend) with a plastic bag. Apparently the process of asphyxiation gives you a high or something.

So her mom complained to Dr Phil, and he got her into the studio. And she’s blonde lah kan. So then they show a pic of her a few week’s back, and she’s actually dark haired!! So we figure “hmmmmmm, of course go blonde for national Tv”

To each his own ;-)

Kinda miss taking gorgeous at high speeds la. In fact I totally miss gorgeous. Cos my house is like 2 minutes from the office. Its like I don’t even have time to listen to the radio in the mornings and evenings. A drawback of living too close to the office (but on the flipside I can get up at 8.20 on a Monday morning.. hehehee..

And I miss the familiarity of the roads in KL. Where I used to do 130 on the Federal and 110 on the LDP and take the curve on the NKVE at 100.. so damn fun .. Aahhhhh.. I miss the adrenaline rush.. well, cant wait to take gorgeous back on the 10th, am sure he’ll welcome the speed ;-)

Oh, went drinking with Amanda at the duty free zone in JB and everything is so freaking cheap, thought of having a chocolate / wine party.. all the imported chocs are like 5 bucks.. and the wine ranges start from 20 plus.. cool.. only thing is trying to smuggle it out cos the customs check all the cars when they leave.. well, where there’s a will there’s a way.. hehehehehe ;-)

Have a great weekend.. i know i will ;-)

Uno Noche..

It means “one night” in Spanish. I think. And this night was none other than Friday the 18th. Well to cut a long story short cos I don’t feel like grouching about another’s inefficiencies (dealing with mine is enough), I rushed back from work, got on the bus in the freaking rain and made a trip back home. And I reached safely after 5 hours in the freaking rain with the driver driving like a freaking loony!!

When I was buying the ticket, I realized that this is the first time I’m buying a ticket for a long distance bus ride. Have never never ever done that in my life, I always prefer the train cos of the scenery. So I took the train back.. hahaha..

This morning was an experience in itself. Office politics. Well, almost. Interesting. But can do without it I guess. I was trying to arrange a charity drive for the floods and .. Alaaaaaaaa, lazy to talk about it la.

Well, basically I was organizing a charity drive for the floods in Johor and I was only organizing it for KL cos I thought that Joh was already trying having another drive, although not under MAC. I organized one last week, and everything went well – the whole works la – donations (cash and kind), transport, accommodation, volunteers. Of course I had help, would never have been able to do it otherwise. So for the previous week’s trip, all volunteers came back safely and apparently they had a great experience.

So after hearing that, Top gave us 30k extra for the flood victims and after thought and deliberation and help, decided on toiletries for 900 families. So arranged everything again la. Then sent an email to Top and Top ok’d it and sent an email out to the whole world lah kan. And the first thing I see is an email from a disgruntled person in Joh asking Top directly why Joh wasn’t involved, blah blah blah, blah blah blah.

So then Top says to send an email to me. When I reply saying Joh already has their own plans, they say its not under MAC. Well, duuuuuuhh, but does charity actually say you have to go under a certain umbrella just to do good? I DON’T THINK SOOOOO!!

So then a few emails go back and forth and back and forth until told that everything is arranged. Well I cant really explain in words. Just so tired and annoyed this morning. Lots of repercussions when things like this happen.

Exhausting. Like people will always want a piece of the pie when everything’s done. When all the crap is cleared. Shitty? Yes. Crappy? You bet.. will it happen again? But of course. Shit happens. All you have to do is take a stand and stick to it. Trying to.. ;-)

Photos are fake..

i read in some calvin and hobbes strip this ingenious thought - photos are fake.. calvin says tht you can choose how your photo is taken etc and when you print them out, post them up, it shows what you want people to see. like say you stood on tiptoe during your class photo - the photo would show you taller than the rest of your classmates and everyone would think you were a tall bloke when in actual fact thats not true. well i'm rambling but the photos you choose to take or show to people are what you want people to see.. interesting eh? guilty as charged.. heheheheh.. of course we're not talking CSI here la..

saw night at the museum the other day - absolutely GOOD. hilarious from the word go. a combination of history, african safari, snow, neanderthals, bad guys, etc.. superbly fabulous with a great storyline..

ME asgmnt has started and my group is unbelievably active - i have to look thru it several times and post comments just to keep up with them.. getting tiring..

oh yeah, about conversations. we can actually affect the outcome of a conversation unless the person we're conversing with is extremely focused. like i was talking to this person the other day (name with-held to protect privacy ;-), and it just hit me. if i say something, the person will answer or try to counter what i just said and the whole conversation takes on a diferent turn. unless th eperson remebers the original point of conversation la. all because of what i said. which is why its not good to interrupt another unless you dont like the way the conversation is heading (guilty as charged again ;-). another option is of course "fight or flight" - flight ;-)

like there's this science theory (dont know if its true but i think it is) that says a butterfly's flap in one corner of the world can affect the weather on the opposite side of the globe. and cause hurricanes and tornadoes, etc just cause the timing was perfect.. interesting. food for thought.

my stupid nose - wish i could chop it off..

I passed.. I passed I passed ...

Yes Tres its true now i can go to CPH again for more reasons than one.. hahahahahahaaha.. well thats it really. ;-) aaaaahhhh.. what a relief.. thought i screwed up really badly, i did actually cos i only passed like cukup makan la, but I STILL PASSED.. hahahaha...

Dedicated to Lilian

well chabor, you asked for it ;-) happy? so before i start so that you can read all abt my (happening) existence (bet arv begs to differ ;-), hope you are better by the time you read this and your stomach's stopped churning. and stop taking warm milk from a mamak shop of all places.. yes yes i know its not your fault ;-) p/s: how many smileys do you want? ;-) ;-) ;-)

so i'm in johor, have been here for abt 3 wks. no flooding in my area so pls dont send me PAs and texts asking me hows the flood - GO READ THE PAPERS!! sheesshh..

had an MDC farewell party in Karma's before johor, was fun, and looked sober enough after that to escape a roadblock, hehehe..

so johor - quite nice when i was in the hotel (think king sized bed and bath), would just spend an hour soaking every evening.. aaaahhhhhh, the pleasures of life (now i know why Jennifer used to say going to the spa was better than sex ;-) imagine the bath with some moroccan rose shower gel, a few cadburys, a bottle of heineken's and a good book.. mmmmmmm.. you'll be lost in time before you know it!

the hotel's breakfast was good too, stuffed myself esp on wkends - so much so that lunch wasnt really a concern.. hahahaha.. was having kacang pau one morning and the FIRST thought that cam to mind was that Gremlin like the kacang inside ;-) should share one with him him this weekend la..

drove around the town on a Sat afternoon, got lost as usual (expected to of course), and suddenly found myself at the singapore checkpoint. debated whether to drive into SGP but decided against it as didnt know if there were any requirements like int'al driving license, etc.

at one point got lost in a malay kampung and there were chicken along the side of the road and the first thing that came to mind was the subject of moral we used to learn in form 5 - what do you do when you knock a chicken down? do you wait and apologize (and face the consequences - may your soul rest in peace) or do you run to the nearest police station (for a frekaing chicken)? flight or fight? ;-) which brings you to the age old question - WHY DID THE DARN CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD DAMMIT?

was driving really slowly cos i wasnt familiar with the roads here, and i kinda miss taking Gorgeous at 140.. i was doing like 60-80 and i can tell you that gorgeous was pretty surprised too ;-)

also went to plaza pelangi, there was bookstore and some books were on sale so got a sudoku book, a lead pencil, an eraser and james patterson's 4th of july, and the whole bill was like 32 or something. damn cool. but havent started on both yet - have been doing sudoku in the newspapers (god knows why i bought the book - must hv been an impulse.. huummmpphhh), and still stuck on Cleo, Dec 2006 although i have an unopened Jan 2007. what a mess!!

some gripes about the english language: why do so many people on this part of the world mistake deadline for DATELINE? i've so many many many people write "the dateline for this is 31 january" etc.. why cant they get a proofreader? yup, thats me.

another example of a juxtaposition of an oxymoron: The strongest weakness. or the weakest strength. but you get my drift.

have just moved in to a new place (couldnt go on staying at the hotel even tho i wanted to).. pretty ok no complains except for the price which is a bit steep but as i said no complains.

shoutouts: tres, see you on Sat, luv you babe. lilian, hope you've been updated on my life, miss you much and see you in Feb. Lora, hi and say hi to Joy too. LMK, i have no idea where they got the money from ;-) (laugh lilian laugh ;-) hahahahah.. Bex and Van, meet up sometime? cheers people..

will leave with a profound thought i read somewhere which is pretty interesting: "a lot of happiness is overlooked because it doesnt cost anything"

Nothing’s permanent

Its like you cant be sure of anything in life. Seriously. Like you own a house and you’re all set for the future and retirement and suddenly there’s an earthquake. Or all your gold bars in the safe deposit box at the bank gets robbed and you see a small clause on the back of your certificate (in pinprick writing, no wonder you’ve never noticed it before), saying that the bank is not responsible should anything untoward happen! You cant be sure of anything in life.

But I was thinking more about people, about the relationships we have with 2 million people (and counting), ok maybe not but you get my drift. If I start at the age of 3 or 4 when all my playmates were children from neighboring houses and we used to go catch butterflies and tadpoles, go cycling, play kejar-kejar and masak-masak (I never had a thing for dolls tho, hehehe..) I don’t even know if they’re DOA (dead or alive for the uninitiated).. But I was still young, never realized the import of the situation at that point and just moved on with friends from kindergarden and primary school.

But starting in primary, I remember a lot of them who were classmates and schoolmates, people whom I would have liked to keep in touch with but who I have no idea where in the world they are now. People I sometimes find myself wondering about. Same goes for secondary and varsity mates and even those from AMEX.

There are sooooo many people I would like to keep in touch with, people who touched my life in SOME way, people I would like to remember and mayb catch up with once in a while, people I wouldn’t mind putting in the effort to meet up with.

Hmmmmmm.. mayb that’s it isn’t it? THE PUTTING IN OF EFFORT.. I don’t make effort enough for people under “everyone else”..

I don’t know, this is a toughie.. a lot of people I know I would have like to keep in touch with and I do make the effort with some. But with others, its more like – malas la, working la, got plans redi la.. I mean, the amount of excuses I can come up with just to not go out!!

P/S: And Tres, the stomachache on Christmas dinner (or was it New Years) was fake ;-) And no that does not mean you are one of the people I don’t make the effort for, just that I was damn malas that day ;-)

Going back to the topic in discussion.. But I want to go for a soak now so I’ll continue sometime la..

The champagne-soaked lychee

Very nice ;-)

So i'm in my next rotation in JOHOPS now, have a 2 wk stay at a hotel til i get my own place. Good thing is that the hotel is 5 minutes away from the office. On foot. Bad thing is that I dont know anything about JOH, so i'm pretty much stuck in my room, will prob take gorgeous out for a spin over the weekend..

Dreamt i passed my Investment exam so the nightmare came back when i woke up ;-) Also had to create an ME group for my asgmnt, so there are now 10 of us from all continents (except Oceania i think) which is so cool - India, Germany, Mauritius, Venezuela, Brazil, Denmark, Russia and Africa.. its like a meeting of different cultures working together in different time zones on the same project.. thats whats really cool about being a MISE - the networking. absolutely fabulous..

Organized a CSR Christmas party for some orphans, went pretty well. Oh and i got this WEIRD phone call the other day - some girl's on the other line and asks me my name and i dont give it to her and she insists and i hang up and she calls me back again!! freaky..

That Bloody A**H***

Ok, I have to talk abt this – this bloody guy comes on a bike and rams right into me although I have my left signal on. Lucky thing I saw him and instead of turning fully I stopped and he STILL rammed into me.. Aarrggghhhh.. I mean, don’t drive if you’re bloody blind damn it. So beloved gorgeous is a bit scratched and dented and this a**h*** also causes his left mirror to be bent backwards.. Sighhh.. Bet you his secondhand value is probably scrap metal or something..
So since that’s gotten off my chest.. its been so long.. where do I start??

Well, it was December (its now January and as I said its been a long time so I’ve got to catch up right?) and everyone is taking leave la, clearing leave la, and there I am stuck in the office working my ass of.. figure of speech ;-) I have NO MORE LEAVE clear, even friends from diff companies were clearing leave!!

Oh but before I forget, I have to try and stop grouching. Went for this teambuilding session in Guoman, was damn nice. Very relaxed, good activities, great food, the biggest swimming pool in PD (did 15 laps at 6.30 in the morning ;-)

And learnt that positive thinking means “stop grouching and make the best of what life hands out to you”.. but this is all good in theory. As always – but we should never stop trying I guess.
Had an argument with my dad the other day, not really argument la, but he was grumbling that he had to wait for me cos I was talking to my friend and another car came and since it was a narrow lane, he had to move the car a few times. I’m like “so what?” nobody died becos he moved his car right.. so lets keep things in perspective. Cos we might feel irritated over something someone did but that person probably doesn’t even realize it and is walking down the road happily humming a tune, while our heart rate and blood pressure goes up.. oh well..

Yeah so back to my teambuilding – there was this facilitator who was blind and THAT was absolutely awesome. Here we are, 2 legs 2 eyes, perfectly capable of everything, not dong anything with them, and there HE is with both eyesight gone and he’s standing there motivating US. Yeah, should be the other way round but it was a good impact he left cos when you are an able person looking at someone who’s disable and able to do so much more, it leaves you almost dazzled.

And this guy was actually giving presentations using ppt slides and reading whatever was on the slides using Braille. Amazing. Like he was talking and reading and presenting at the same time.. And I told him so. And he says I can send him emails if I have anything to ask and say and I asked him if someone actually printed out his emails and translated them to Braille or something and he said that he used some voice over technology where the software just converts written material to voice. I mean, I know it exists but becos you’re living in the “able-bodied” world, you don’t tend to think of this.. well, itw as just amazing ;-)

Was shopping for a gift the other day and I asked some sales girl for the cosmetic jewelry department and she looked confused. When I repeated myself, she said “oh, cosmetics is over there and jewelry is on the other side”.. hilarious ;-) I mean, don’t people recognize cosmetic jewelry anymore? What do they call it then? Silverware? Cant cos some are gold plated ;-)

Oh and found a worm in my cereal the other day, thought at first that it was some sliced almond that just got soggy in the milk or something but on further inspection, turned out that it had 2 black spots at one end ;-) but its protein anyway ;-) and no, i didnt eat it..

Nothing else so i'll just sign off, wish everyone a good weekend and a happy new year and go hit the sack. Or the bath. Hmmmmmmm..