There ARE nice people after all..

Well, I've stopped work. quit. retired. so the other day i slept for 14 hours - from 2am til 4pm+ - so obviously i didnt go out la kan. and it was a weekday. and since i was sleeping throughout, i totally forgot to put in some coins for parking. mind you, i've never put them coins in before cos i'm never around from 9-5, i'm WORKING rmbr? :p

so when i come out to get my car and go for dinner, i find a parking ticket for a 100 bucks. so i just take it and put it my glove compartment (everything tht goes into my glove compartment is usually forgotten about until i decide to clean my car some decades later - perfect place).

so the next day, since i had some errands, i thought i'd be getting out early. so i went down abt 10 (AM :p) and there wasnt a summons but an actual parking slip - the kind you get when u put in some coins in the meter and key in your car number and display the slip on ur dashboard? only that this time, the slip was on my bonnet being held together by a glass ashtray. and it had my car number on it.

so there i stand for a full 5 minutes trying to figure out who would be such a kind soul to do this. i mean, this world has gotten to a point where people just dont CARE abt one another anymore so WHO? well as i stand there contemplating this, suddenly this guy comes up (he looks a mix of indian bangladeshi pakistani nepalese - ahhh u know the kind) and he tries to tell me in broken malay "saya sakit hati mau tengok orang kena saman jadi saya letak syiling untuk kereta kamu". and he just took the glass ash tray back from me. and as i was thanking him profusely, i asked him how much i owe him, and he said 60 cents. so i gave him 2 bucks and he gave me back 1. apparently he works at the nearby car wash and didnt realised too late tht tht my car was being summoned yesterday so he was actually on the lookout.

so after thanking him abt 20 times, i get into my car and was about to drive off, when he comes running towards me and gives me back 40 cents. and i say no, its ok, just pay it forward (like do it to someone else) and he insists. so yeah.

was just thinking tht it would be so awesome if anyone who saw one of those darned enforcement officers to ask them to stop and say "look i've got some coins - dont summon tht guy"?

Dont I look LOCAL??

These past few days everyone has been asking me if I'm local. I mean strangers la, during networking. Dont know why. I mean, dont I look local enough.. I know tht i eat cereal and milk for lunch (well, the timing is such tht our lunch coincides with breakfast in Europe) but still? and i've actually been getting this so often, its like almost the first question they ask after i introduce myself is if i'm local. do i look vietnamese? ok well, to SOME people's credit, my ass looks brazilian la, but whoEVER heard of jumping to conclusions just by looking at someone's ass?

Its not like i have an accent either, and i use "lah" liberally :p so why ASK if i'm local? What, my English is perfect? Well, yeah i've been speaking it from the day i was born. Unfathomable.

Oh and apparently, in the great world of money, btwn the 4 classifieds - spenders, savers, avoiders and monks - i'm a spender. like ooooohhhhh, i didnt know tht! its like "its just money, money can be made".. now all i need to do is look to marry a saver.. hahahaha..

well, as they say, a successful man is someone who can make more money than his wife can spend :-)

Thoughts on Gambling..

But before that.. I'm FREEEEEEEEEEE. as in liberated. as in jobless. and happy. retiring as a pauper but still.. so yeah.. looking at all money making ventures like ebay and passive income streams etc, basically anything tht will allow me to stay out of the secular job market for as long as possible.

and also i'm now an ardent believer in the law of attraction. cos i love to write right? and i went for T Harv Eker's MMI seminar and did some networking and actually ended up talking to this lady who used to write for the Star and wouldnt mind pulling some strings if i ever wanted a job there.. now aint tht cool or what? :-) so once i get bored of my jobless status (and my money runs out), i'll give her a buzz - i LOVE writing anyway. hence the blog :p

anyway at this MMI seminar, Harv's partner Robert wanted us to play a game so in the invitation/ticket package, we were told to bring a 100 dollar bill. then towards the end of the session, he was like "do u rule money or does money rule you" and to prove tht money doesnt rule us, we had to burn the bill by candlelight and drop the remains into a pail of water. but everyone's reaction was so funny. some lost all integrity and changed the 100 bill to a 1 dollar bill and some started swapping their note for 2 50s. at the end, when everyone was all geared up after some mantras about "i control money", he was like "ok, game over, you dont hv to burn the note". boring. but funny.

as for yours truly's reaction, i didnt mind "wasting" the money la - money can be made after all - but i didnt wanna waste in the sense of burning, i was like "why not give the bill to PAWS or RSPCA or something.. anyways, since the whole experiment was just a test of will power, everyone got their money back!

well yeah so to the juicy part - the gambling bit. so in all my 26 yrs of existence, i've never been to one of the casinos in genting. sad but true. in fact the last time i went to genting was like years ago. unlike SOME people who make genting their second home :p but in my defence i HAVE been to a casino in Hastings.. not as crowded as genting n didnt try my hand at anything, but been there nonetheless. i'm trying to defend myself here :p

so anyways, yeah, went up with my bestest guy friend and did the whole works la, dinner and lunch (in that order) at Torcellos (man i LURRVVEE that place) and gambling and a bucket of Heineken and the Motion Master and the outdoor themepark.. had so much fun til i was bloody tired out. but on gambling, i mean, i play cards when the rest of the extended family get tgthr la, and the bets are like 10sen la, 20 sen la, the highest would probably be like 2 bucks. i think there was once where we were playing poker and my aunt called for 4 bucks. but VERY rare. whereas in here, people are betting like 2000 bucks at a go. i mean, if you're prepared to lose so much, why not just give it to charity or feed homeless people or give some africans some vaccinations.. i mean i could go on and on, there is SO MUCH to do with that kind of money which you can afford to just BLOW. man.... sad la the state of this world..

so basically just that la. and i also found out that people who go gambling actually go there with the mindset of losing everything. so even if they won, they wont stop, they'd just play til they lost everything again. oh and did i also mention that hardcore gambling is bloody addictive? sigh.. have a nice wkend peeps :-)

A second series of unfortunate events

So lets start this morning! I get up. Early. ALtho its a Saturday. Cos i have a doctor’s appointment. And my doc is in Seremban. And i’m in KL. Moving on... :p

I get all my things out of the door so tht i can get them all into the car (like my old clothes and notebook etc) and lock the door and pull it shut. And THEN i realise that my bunch of keys (inc my door and my car) are locked in the room! I mean, this is the first time in ever. In this house la. Thats why when i was in uni, i made a copy and gave it to Lilian and Maykwan. And Tres as well i think. Cos i KNOW someday i was bound to do something like this. When it happened once in uni and i was in my bathrobe, i called maykwan who came over :-)

So this time i was alone. And i called my landlady and she’s in a meeting in sunway. So i could drive to get the spare room keys except for the fact that my car keys are locked in the room too! Great.. ABSOULTELY freaking FABULOUS.

So then i knock on my housemate’s door and he’s still asleep :P Kesian. He wakes up and i’m like “i’m so so sorry to wake you up” and he looks at all my stuff outside the door and he goes like “no probs, do u need someone to help u carry ur stuff to the car?” So sweet right? Then i go like “no no, i just locked myself out and i was wondering if you could pick the lock etc” and he was like “oh, can try la”.

So he starts with 2 small pins, moves on to 2 paper clips, and nothing works. I mean, they make it seem so easy on tv right? Then he goes like “if u hv ur laptop with u, try to google lock-picking”. Brainwave. Before that, i go around the kitchen etc looking for tools to lock pick la, and just cant find anything. Then he calls his friend and his friend asks him to try a credit card. So he’s like “do you hv a card?” and i give him my expired MCDs card. And he bends it a little and goes like “hmmm, this is just right”, then goes to my door, slides it in, and opens it in 5 seconds. JUST AMAZING. And he was like “keep that card, its just right – not too hard and not too soft”. I was so relieved! It was like my first (or second) lock picking experience. Not that i personally pick locks la. No sireeeee, not me! But i think lock-picking is a GREAT skill to have!

So then since i hv a docs appointment and i was already late, i rush la, did 140 all the way and reached nilai in abt half an hour. And all of a sudden, after the nilai cutoff where there’s a signboard saying seremban – 21 kms, and the jam starts. 4 lanes hv got cars, incl the emergency lane. And there i am stuck in this for 2+ hours. In fact i saw the time, it was 1128 and by the time i got to the source of the jam it was like 1310 thats like an hour and 40 mins for a normally 20 min drive. And all the time i was on the phone to my doc’s asking her if she wouldn’t mind waiting!

And the best part? The source was a trailer tht crashed into the railing on the left and the emergency lane plus 2 lanes were closed cos a crane was trying to lift it out. I mean, how hard can it be driving on a freeway when all u have are straight roads. No traffic lights, no weaving in and out, esp if ur only supposed to be on the left lane, and even THEN, u manage to mess up? And mess it up for everyone else as well! I mean, what if there was someone having a heart attack and got stuck in the jam or something? Mad la!

So then i go to the clinic, and dear doc needs to do a blood test and she pokes this humongous needle into my vein. Sheesh. Then when i come home, i whacked my sister cos she whacked my cat and my parents started shouting. Sheesh again. I mean, WHAT a Saturday! I think i’ll go have a shower now and maybe cool off a little!