Moving Barricades :-)

This is my first day at work after a 3 and a half mth hiatus. And boy do I have a story. Like an omen. Also bearing in mind that “moving barricades” is an oxymoron :-)

Anyways, to dive right in, I went to collect my offer letter on Friday, and there was this empty previously operating food court opposite the office, so I parked there just for a while. There were maybe 3 other cars at that point. Turns out I only left the office at 9pm and when I went to get my car, the entrance was barricaded and the exit was open, but there was a man there saying I had to pay 3 bucks before getting my car. So fine la - I mean, 3 bucks in the heart of KL. Willingly man :-)

So Monday, I drive and the same place is open again - both the entrance and the exit. And there is no car this time, and no one to pay, so I parked there again and went into the office. The next time I went to get my car was abt 7-ish in the evening and guess what? Both the entrance AND the exit have been barricaded.

There’s like long blocks of woods and palangs and flower pots and bricks and old cabinets and shoe racks etc. There’s about 4 cars there at this point and there’s no one to ask. Me n my friend, we thought that there would be a note on the windshield or something with a number, but NOPE.

So we decide that I need Gorgeous and we start moving all the palangs and the flower pots one by freaking one la. Then there’s a Chinese guy sitting in an Iswara and when he sees us moving all the stuff to take Gorgeous out, he comes along and helps as well. And he asks like, didn’t I pay when I came in and I said there was no one there. And when I am taking my car, there was no one there either.

Anyways, this guy helps us and I finally get to take my poor Gorgeous and go home. And tomorrow, I’m gonna find another parking spot. Sigh..

The Petai Man!

So i did some spring cleaning la, especially my study room cos its a mess and i wanted to revamp the house a little. And the amount of junk i got out of that was AMAZING. Stuff i never used in years, stuff that i didn’t even know existed, stuff that brought memories and smiles, just a wholre treasure trove of junk basically. Hey i just created another oxymoron – “treasure trove of junk”. Man, i’m genius :-)

So anyways, i wanted to just get rid of everything, but not to the dustbin man of course. So i come up with this brain wave of putting everything in my boot and going to the local market and having a kinda jumble sale. Or like those car-boot sales in the UK. Which is what i did. And i told everyone who came to take them all for any price!

And i made about RM90. Thats a full tank of petrol mind you. The highlights of the sale: 1. There was this Chinese lady with a daughter and she was just looking around to see if there was anything interesting. Then her daughter caught sight of a Hello Kitty notepad cum mirror, which i got free from MCDs Happy Meal aeons ago. And her daughter wanted that, so she asked me how much it was and i said, well, gimme whatever you wish. And she give me RM5! Can you imagine? RM5 for something i got free!!!!!! Can you imagine the ROI i got in that one?

So anyways, i was at the market from abt 8. And the crowd is only there from 7-10. After that, there’s just the stragglers. Then this motorbike selling petai comes along at about 9-ish and he parks beside me also la. Then we strike up a conversation about what i’m selling and where he’s from etc. Just a perfectly normal conversation right – about the weather, business, his family, his livelihood etc. I was just doing the listening – its what i do best :-)

Then about 1030, he asks me to try and sell my wares further down the road cos there’d be a crowd there as there are 3 lottery shops in that row. Apparently he’d be there too. So i say i’ll think about it (i didn’t really wanna go, weather was sweltering anyway).

Nearing 11, my mommy calls me and i just tell him that my mom called and that i was leaving. Then he bought 2 items from me, a Polaroid camera and Nokia charger. Also told me that i’d be able to sell petai along with all my junk wares (tho how often i’d have junk to sell is beyond me). Anyways, we exchanged numbers, and that same bloody afternoon, he calls me to ask if i would be interested in selling petai. And i say no, if i do, i would just call him back. Then he calls me back a few minutes later and says that he would like me to follow him to Pantai (which is a jungle-y kampong near Jelebu) to check out the petais from the Orang Asli!

I mean, hellllloooooo?? So i say no, i’m really not interested. And he goes like “are you scared? You don’t have to be scared”. Of course i’m bloody freaked you old fool. Think i’d follow u to some jungle after talking to you for an hour? Sheesh..

In retrospect, i should never have given him my number in the first place la. But if i have undesirable people calling me, i just ignore it. And its worked all these years. And i’ve steadfastly been ignoring him ever since. He’s called me maybe 20 times – he never gives up. Hmmmmm, reminds me of someone else whom i ignored – remind me to blog about that sometime.

Creepy la this world. Makes you wonder why people even have children when they’d have to work so hard just to shelter them from all the crocodiles and wolves around!

Check out counter woes..

I notice that every time I’m at a checkout counter, there’s something wrong with the person in front of me or the cashier or his tools. Like EVERYTIME!

Most of the time, i would hv chosen the counter which has the least people, of the counter which has maybe 2 or 3 people but each with a very small amount of stuff. And invariably, what happens? Either the price scanner mysteriously stops working. Or the item the customer in front takes doesn’t have a price tag. Or he / she just only found a defect and needs t o change it. Or they’ve taken something that needs to be weighed and didn’t. Or the cashiers are having a change in shift.

And while i’m standing there waiting for those morons to solve their woes, what would’ve happened? The line beside me would’ve moved so fast that had i joined that, i would’ve been already in my car on my way out of the mall NO KIDDING!

Ahhhhhh, the grievances of life – i bet somewhere out there in Africa, someone is complaining they don’t hv food, and they don’t even have money to buy them from the malls that would’ve sprouted in the middle of the desert! So putting things in perspective, i’m perfectly FINE!

Oh by the way, i came across a quote recently, i think its from Sex and the City, says “maybe some women are not meant to be tamed, maybe they’re supposed to find someone just as wild to run with”.. Putting it that way, makes women seem like wild horses, but i guess there’s SOME truth in it..

The Break-up..

Yeah, so for all of you who saw my relationship status on facebook and dont wanna ask, i'm single again. Footloose and fancy free. (Btw, does facebook have a blogging application?)

So yeah. Thats it. Well, i suppose if we wanna find faults with someone, we can always do it la - its abt focusing on the positive. Its not like i'm perfect anyway, he must hv found tons of faults with me too..

But wait, Marcus called me perfect yesterday.. :-) Hahahahah..

An All Time HIGH

Havent been blogging for absolutely ages, I know.. Sigh.. But got a new passion now :-) So i'm trying (very hard) to find the time to blog.

So i was in MPH the other day, the one in Bangsar Village, and i was just browsing etc and went to the magazine stands to check out whats new and all of a sudden i came across a copy of CS&B (which i write for) and i just flip through to see if any of my articles are in the issue and guess what? IT ISSSSSSSSSSSSSS... My my the all time high you get seeing your name in print is AMAZING. It was my second article, i missed the first one and i sent an email to my editor to ask if she would have a back copy and she hasnt replied. Well, will keep my fingers crossed..

Btw, i just created a new oxymoron - ridiculously logical. Example: That argument is so ridiculously logical that I refuse to agree to it, as it doesnt take any emotions into account. Makes sense right.

And Gremlin is fine, thank you for asking. But whats weird is that he hasnt vomited at all in the past week, my mom changed his drinking water to filtered or boiled water only (as opposed to tap water previously) and its doing his system great. Amazing. Thats how dirty the water from our taps are. On the other hand, the strays drink water from the drain and they're fine, know what i mean? ..... Hmmmmmm....

And while I'm at it, lemme touch a lil on old people. i dont know why, this seems to be a staple habit with them, but they LOVE to talk to you (and have an actual conversation for 10 mins) exactly when ur in the middle of a TV show. Like i was watching the Rock the other day (not the wrestler, the movie abt Alcatraz), and my auntie comes to the living room and has this long conversation with me about handphones, battery shelf lives, sim cards and the like.. i mean.. COME ON. Cant u see i'm in the middle of something? Arrrrggghhhh.. Now i just hv to wait for Astro to rerun it :p

Am a big fan of Ellen DeGeneres recently and these past few shows, she starts of her shows with something positive. The other day she said that we should all choose to focus on the positive stuff during the day. I mean, there's so much negative stuff out there thats its easy to get caught up in getting annoyed, irritated, frustrated, etc. Instead, we should be focusing on how easy it is to CHOOSE to be happy - focus on the blue skies, that there's someone helping the old cross the road, even if its not you...

Case in point: The Car Park on a Sunday! Instead of focusing on the fact that you have to walk half a mile to the store entrance, focus on the fact that ur getting some exercise, adding some 3 seconds to your life. Disclaimer: if you're already suffering and waiting to die, this doesnt count :p

Anyways... Oh yeah, came across some new flavours from Dutch Lady the other day - Belgian Chocolate and Vienna Coffee.. Hmmmmmm, shouldnt it be Belgian Chocolate and Viennese Coffee..

Signing off, Virgo the Critic. Check it up :-)