I got TAXED!!!

Its official! So what do i do? well its not like this place is full of life anyway. cant wait to get back to KL. or to expat, whichever comes first!

so since i have no life, took some drastic measures and almost executed them, but stopped in time ;-)

and oh, i got TAXED today. went to the duty free zone and bought chocs and the customs stops me and and i say tht i've never been taxed for chocs before! and he shows me the price tag (like i cant read) which says "duty not paid". well, duh, i KNOW you dumb ass, but why be so bloody inconsistent?

and get this - its the best part. tax rate is 30% and my chocs were for 110 bucks so the tax should be 33 right? wrong! he told me that i just needed to pay 10 bucks! so i thought was duit kopi lah kan, so i take out a red note from my wallet and was abt to give it to him when he writes me a kind of receipt and asks me to go to the cashier in the building. i mean, this is getting weirder and weirder by the day! either you tax or you dont or at least you hv a certain bracket so that people get the idea how much you need to pay!

but here - NO, one day you buy chocs and you're free to go, the next day you buy chocs and you get taxed. then the tax is 30% but you dont hv to pay that much, i mean - WHAT THE HELL IS GOIN ON?

i need to migrate.

Book reviews

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom: a must read. teaches you how you should live and what your priorities in life should be (and they definitely SHOULDNT be work). makes you think back to that figure in your life who kinda acted as your "morrie". thank you, i love you. also got someone a copy as a birthday pressie. and found out that kenny and doc also tremendously enjoyed the book and both had students thinking of them as their "morries". well, you must be doing something right ;-) P/S: Lilian, can i have my copy back, my sister's waiting in line. Thres, arent you glad you got your own copy ;-)

The 5 People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom: absolutely fantastic. shows you how you live your life affects others. whether you know it or not. an eye opener to things which you misconstrued. about forgiveness. i couldnt put it down. my sister just texted me saying its the best book she ever read in her life (her alltime fave is harper lee's to kill a mockingbird). GO BUY IT!

My Best Friend's Girl by Dorothy Koomson: couldnt put this down either. no wonder it was on the best seller's altho its considered chic lit. teaches a lot abt life. how to forgive someone and if you can live with the guilt if you never forgave them on their deathbed. and if you didnt, do your actions show it? absolutely fantastic - couldnt put this one down either.

4th of July by James Patterson: a good thriller, murder mystery, also cant put it down, like you kepp wanting to know whats happening on the next page. good thing about it is that the chapters are REALLY short, like 2-3 pages, so if you're really sleepy but still need to cram in a few pages, you can.

Well, thts it so far..
Just wondering if i'm in love ;-)
Will tell you about it soon doll..

10 hours..

well i've been in the bloody office on a bloody sunday finishing up a bloody terminal management assignment. i mean, who THE HELL cares abt how many gantry cranes an S-class and E-class need and how many containers come through a transhipment port in a year anyway?

AAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHH.. seem to be screaming a lot these days.

but there are 2 headlights at the end of the tunnel.

1. am going back in a few minutes and gonna have a nice hot shower and gonna go out for a beer or a mudslide later with a friend (he's buying ;-)

2. this is the last individual assignment i'll have in the mise programme. so hip hip hooray ;-) again: hip hip hooray ;-)

of cos got group work and all la.. but its like LIBERATING. after almost 2 bloody years, i might as well be doing my masters or a second degree, know what i mean.

Anyway..

With a pinch of salt..

Do you actually listen to everything people say or take everything with a pinch of salt? I mean, sometimes you want opinions, but if this person plays the devil's advocate and every bloody thing you say is shot down. Well, it does make sense, but you have a feeling that it can be overcome, and you also get this feeling that the only reason they are saying this is to have a say in a negative sense. Like you have an idea and they say its too complicated, and you have another idea and they say it needs too much research and you have yet another idea and, well, you get the drift. So to trust or not to trust?

Hmmmmmmm...

So.. the Internet actually proves that people are generally nice. was just thinking abt it the other day. I mean, would the Internet be so widespread and would google even exist if SOMEONE somewhere didnt keep uploading stuff onto their sites for someone else to read? personally, i've never updated something online where its totally open when you search on google, but just thinking that someone else does this on a regular basis just so we can have materials to read and research.i know i'm rambling but its kinda mind boggling.

the owner of ebay (or someone) once said that ebay is based on the foundation that PEOPLE ARE NICE. that people would trust each other when trading online. and he's right you know, most ppl are satisfied on ebay, even when payment is made first BEFORE goods are even shipped. how the hell do u know that once you deposit the money, your hot air balloon is gonna be shipped to you from some remote corner in Timbuctoo??

that study on psychology again, the theory of x-type and y-type people. i think.

and since we are on psychology, know how everything is pretty psychological? like you read your horoscope and it says something bad will happen to you today. that gets stuck in your mind, that when your phone accidentally falls into the toilet (not that its ever happened to me), you think it was written in the stars. i mean, HELLOOOO!! and sometimes, when you read it, it subconsciously affects you where you kind of channel events to mirror what you want to believe.

even when it comes to praying for example. was talking to a colleague who said that there was this temple famed for making wishes come true la kan. so say you go there and ask for 20 A1s in SPM ;-) so since you've prayed for it, you go home and study. and when the results come out and you've got 20 A1s, you think its cos you prayed. but thts psychological, the fact that you prayed AND studied for it shows that you tend to subconsciously gear your actions towards something you believe in. And then, on the flipside, if you get 19 A1s and 1 B, everyone says "oh it was god's will". i mean come on - let the guy rest ok! sheesh..!

so hv a nice "whatever's left of it week" ;-)

6.2 on the Richter Scale

Well first, the earthquake. well the building shook, yadda yadda yadda. and the lights shook. and the worse part was climbing down 19 floors. TWICE. then everyone just got fed-up la and the boss asked us to go home. Hahahahahahaha.. but know whats the best part? i didnt have the key - long story la.. well, i went back home so i left my keys in the house and all. ended up sitting outside in Gorgeous reading in the heavy rain til the landlord came back and let me in! but i could bond with Gorgeous i suppose ;-)

So since I'm on Gorgeous, there's this long story! Was sick so went to the clinic on Friday and parked in front of a restaurant. All ok, got the medicine and went back and saw that there was a motorcycle in front of him. So i just got in and was about to reverse and get out, when this stupid STUPID Iswara driver tries to turn left into the lorong in front of me. And she misjudges the proximity and knock the motorcycle WHICH IN TURN FALLS ONTO GORGEOUS!!! And his front left signal light chipped!

Aaaarrrggghhhhhh! Was so fraking mad. IS SHE BLOODY BLIND OR JUST PLAIN DUMB. Where the fuck did she get her license, cant she wait? My goodness, never felt so mad! So got out, didnt say anything. Then she comes out with a bloody sheepish look on her moronic butt-face and stares. so i use that classic line "sekarang macam mana?" direct translation: now how ;-)

so a long story ensues lah kan, wont go into much detail, but basically she brought her mechanic who said an original light was only 55 and i said no, cos i've asked at EON before and its abt 120. of course EON over charges la kan, we all know that. so i made a big fuss and finally she said she would take me to her mechanic to get it repaired. apparently she works in the restaurant that i was parked at and i told her i would come back.

so i go back to the office and check around to see what the price would be for a light. and finally get a chinese fren to follow me in case this dumbass decides to cheat me lah kan. so we go to this shop and get Gorgeous fixed. and the guy doing the fixing didnt even look like he knew what he was doing, and my friend who followed me agreed. well.. shit happens, just wish i could say "get this moron off my planet". and she even had the audacity to ask me if the light got chipped of becos of the fall or was it there much earlier! bitch! and to think i had to do all that talking and running around when i was sick! and that was the day Liner Trade was due and i had to go back to the office despite the MC to submit it. No wonder i havent recovered.

so went back home over the weekend for some TLC, was on MC on Mon and Fri. Or Fri and Mon rather. Took the train back, berth was quite comfy la. amazingly ;-)

but the accident was an interesting lesson. DONT be in the wrong! Never.

Have so much to write about since been "not writing" for so long. But i wanna go back on watch Gol and Gincu, cos its the last 2 episodes today and i wanna know what happened to Putri and Marwan and the rest of the gang. yeah yeah, no life i know, but i'm in a foreign land and missing my social circle, so gotta make do with TV i guess..

Miss you la Tres. And Lilian. And Amanda (to a certain extent ;-).. Hahahahaha.. cheers.

Tears of uncertainty

Is this the beginning or the end? More importantly, do i WANT it to be the beginning or the end? Do i even know what i want? I like the last question. And i hate the answer.. hmmmmmm.. midlife crisis coming early. Shit.

Finally over and done with..

In more ways than one. my stupid BDV finally passed up. finally finally finally. ask everyone who's been reading it - bet they've almost given up. Thks amanda ;-)

so... wanted to write abt how handshakes are so fake. when you meet someone you are close to after a long time, what happens? we shake hands! talk abt freaking LAME! its like we are holding back from hugs just cos the culture is that. well.. cant change much right - the mentality is set! like how some minister came up with this greeting abt putting your right hand over your heart or something! i mean - WHY??

change of train of thought, dont know how else to put it - bittersweet.. still feeling liberated, the damage (if there was damage) hasnt sunk in yet. dont know if it will actually. well, time will tell. or heal. hopefully heal. always.

well, neways been a pretty good patron of popular lately since i FINALLY have time on my hands (at the expense of my social life of course), so been buying books like crazy. to catch up on all the reading i have not been doing. bought both mitch albom's bestsellers and they are both absolutely excellent. fantastic. something the whole world should read. and no, you cant borrow it cos there's already a long line - includes you lillian!

also shopped in the duty free zone and got 3 items from american athletics for 45 - sooo cool.

so tres, you're getting your goodie bag early. thks for listening - you know this is not the end ;-) but its appreciated. i hate issues ;-P

there's this book i bought from popular - singletini - well i havent read it but the back cover tells of a story abt this young woman who's single and not interested in relationships (and is not lesbian either), but who just likes that liberated feeling. and suddenly everyone around her is settling down and buying a house and getting married and doing all "that" stuff.. sounds like me ler..

hmmmmmmm.. prob thats why i was attracted to the book, lets see how the story goes. will write a review abt it when i'm done. IF it goes my way that is ;-)

so gonna go tapau my dinner now, will see you all sometime ;-) bye people..